P.M. BRIEFING : Cheaper TV Computer Systems

Intel Corp. today unveiled computer chips it says will make it much cheaper for video technology to be built into personal computers, allowing the desktop machines to edit and store moving images much as they do text.

While similar technology already exists, it is expensive--a video system offered by IBM and Intel costs about $2,000 above the price of a regular personal computer.

Intel says its new chips should allow computer companies to add video capability to personal computers for half that amount.

The computer-chip maker says its technology should spur the young market for so-called multimedia, or the marriage of television and computing. Multimedia allows the text and interactive capabilities of computers to be mixed with video, stereo sound, still photographs and animation.