Intel VIIV -ZdNet

Intel, happy with its success launching the Centrino brand for mobile computers, on Wednesday introduced a new brand called VIIV (rhymes with "strive") for entertainment PCs. VIIV includes a dual-core processor, a chipset and a network controller and will require Microsoft's Windows Media Center Edition.

One feature of VIIV will be automatic transcoding -ensuring that audio or video encoded in one format can be translated into one the user's computer can actually handle without user intervention. Another feature will be instant shutdown and start-up that will work as fast as it does in consumer electronic devices such as DVD players. PCs today have suspend-and-resume features that bypass sluggish start-up and shutdown processes, but still aren't as fast as a typical television.