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LSI Logic transcoding CPU clears up media format mess

By Bernard Cole
iApplianceWeb
(10/09/06, 11:54 AM GMT)

Milpitas, Ca. – To help developers of the many Internet and mobile TV platforms and their multiplicity of analog and video transmission and imaging standards, LSI Logic Corp. has just introduced a transcoding media processor architecture it calls the Domino[X].

According to Tim Vehling, vice president of marketing, Consumer Products Group, LSI Logic, Domino[X] is a multi-stream, multi-format, high-definition media processor architecture.

According to Arizona-based analyst firm, InStat, digital media products, such as advanced DVD recorders, high-definition set-top boxes, Blu-ray/HD-DVD players and recorders, integrated digital TVs, and professional content creation and broadcast infrastructure devices are expected to reach $36 billion in 2010.

The problems is that the market could be stalled by the complexities of the shift from analog to digital TV as well as the flood of alternative digital schemes that are emerging.

"Next-generation applications offer new opportunities in both the professional and consumer electronics markets," said Michelle Abraham, senior analyst, InStat. "These are significant opportunities for manufacturers as well, but the technology and market complexities require sophisticated silicon solutions.”

With the electronics industries undergoing dramatic transitions from analog to digital, from standard-definition to high-definition video, she said, and from MPEG-2 to H.264/VC-1, end product development is becoming increasingly complex.

Addressing these challenges, said Vehling, the LSI Domino[X] is a multi-core media processor architecture that is flexible and scalable enough to address high- performance professional codec solutions, as well as cost-sensitive consumer electronics products.

“One of the key benefits of the Domino[X] architecture is multi-format encoding, decoding and transcoding of digital video,” said Vehling, “enabling content to be converted and reformatted for viewing on a wide range of products -- from mobile to HDTV.”

The Domino[X] architecture processes multiple streams of digital video, including: Dual HD decode, Dual SD encode + SD decode, HD encode + SD decode, and HD to HD transcode.

Transcoding between H.264 HD and MPEG-2 HD is particularly important to bridge legacy and next-generation digital video equipment, he said.

To address the diverse requirements of this new multiformat Internet and mobile TV environment, said Vehline, the Domino[X] architecture is capable of encoding, decoding and transcoding of DV, MPEG-1/2/4, H.264 and VC-1 video compression standards and associated audio standards, for interoperability and backward compatibility between products.

He said the new architecture is also capable of transcrypting (content security) to enable content sharing while maintaining content owner rights.

To learn more, go to www.lsilogic.com/.  

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