DVD/3D kit to hit market

Diamond Multimedia (DIMD) today announced a low-cost, combination DVD playback and 3D graphics kit, to be released sometime in the second quarter of this year.

Diamond's offering features a single chip from Chromatic that accelerates graphics animation for more realistic interactive gaming capabilities in addition to providing DVD (digital versatile disc) capability, the company said.

Use of the chip allows PC manufacturers to do without a separate graphics card in a PC system, saving both space and cost. Diamond says the new DVD kit, which includes a 2X DVD-ROM drive and a selection of DVD titles, is priced at $299.95.

DVD-ROMs hold enough data for full-length film, videos, and interactive games with full-motion video. DVD-ROMs, which are gaining popularity both as standalone peripherals and as part of PCs, are widely expected to replace CD-ROMs, which have much lower data storage capacity.

The new DVD kit is a separate product, not an upgrade to the DVD kit that Diamond released last summer, a company representative said.