Japanese encoders coming soon...................................
nikkeibp.com
Kenji Tsuda, Tokyo
Makers Seek Replacement for Memories
Japanese chip manufacturers, in an effort to escape the memory-dependent business, are pushing the development of various kinds of multimedia chips: image/sound processing, graphics, networking, multimedia interface, and others.
In image processing, for example, major chip manufacturers are focusing on Moving Picture Experts Group Phase 2 (MPEG-2) encoder and decoder chips.
NEC Corp of Japan announced the MPEG-2 encoder chip with main profile at main level (MP@ML) at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 1997. The company also demonstrated the chip at Japan's Electronics Show in October 1997. The chip which measures 12.45mm x 12.45mm with a 0.35æm design rule, is a little large to mass-produce, however, the firm plans to sample a smaller version in the spring of 1998. The new version of the MPEG-2 encoder chip, with 0.25æm design rule, will be aimed at the market for professional digital video disk (DVD) authoring tools.
While the general-purpose MPEG-2 encoder chip does not have peripheral circuits, NEC plans to develop dedicated encoder chips for DVD recorders or digital video cameras (DVC) in 1998. The company also plans to develop the MPEG-2 main profile at high level (MP@HL) encoder chip for digital high-definition television (HDTV) applications in 1999 or later, depending on the TV infrastructure, according to Shizuo Eguchi, general manager of NEC Semiconductor Solution Engineering Division.
Sony Corp of Japan announced an MPEG-2 encoder chip for professional applications in April 1997. It was later used in the firm's 12-Gbyte optical disk recorder, which was announced in October 1997. Sony plans to sample the encoder chip to the commercial market at the beginning of 1998 and start volume production by mid-98.
In 1999, Sony plans to release a codec (a single chip encoder and decoder) and a highly integrated audio/video (A/V) encoder with a system multiplexer.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Ltd of Japan has prototyped a 100mm2 single chip MPEG-2 MP@ML encoder integrating a multitasking RISC A/V controller. Matsushita plans to announce the full details of the chip at ISSCC 1998. ISSCC, which runs February 5-7, 1998, will be held in San Francisco. The 0.25æm CMOS chip integrates 5.5 million transistors, operating at 81MHz with 0.95W power consumption.
The firm plans to ship samples of the chip in the first quarter of 1998, and to market a low power version of the A/V codec, and MP@HL video encoder for HDTV applications.
Fujitsu Ltd of Japan is also developing an MPEG-2 encoder chip at the firm's System LSI Development Laboratories, and plans to announce it in the spring of 1998. |
