Quadrant/Cube..........
eet.com
The link has a diagram for techies.
Quadrant touts modular software for digital audio/video solution
By Junko Yoshida
MALVERN, PA. - PC OEMs seeking a flexible way to implement
high-quality DVD are considering the software- and hardware-based digital
video and audio solutions of Quadrant International (QI), the company said.
QI's algorithms, drivers, graphical user interfaces and applications software
has already been incorporated into chips from C-Cube Microsystems, ATI
Technologies and STMicroelectronics, and into PC systems from Dell
Computer and Packard Bell/NEC.
QI is not the only vendor offering software solutions to both chip and
systems makers. CompCore Mutimedia, a part of Zoran Corp., and
Mediamatics, owned by National Semiconductor, follow the same strategy.
But a unique modular software architecture throughout QI's line separate the
company from its competitors, said Mike Harris, chief technology officer
and cofounder. "We have taken the object-oriented methodology very, very
seriously," he said.
Other vendors have specific algorithms to help chip companies design
MPEG hardware. But QI has a number of functional solutions - MPEG-2
video, AC-3 or DVD Navigation - as independent software modules that
can point to different hardware decoder chips or CPUs. So the software
modules' portability and flexibility let PC OEMs choose different hardware,
hardware-software or all-in-software configurations while maintaining
DVD's look and feel.
QI's product line includes Hardware CineMaster C.12, a hardware decoder
card based on the C-Cube ZiVA DVD decoder chip; CineMaster LP,
customer-specific hardware decoder module for laptops based on
C-Cube's ZiVA-PC DVD decoder chip; Hardware CineMaster 3.0, the
newest member of the CineMaster hardware, fully complies with Microsoft's
PC98 (also based on the ZiVA-PC) and provides a highly integrated DVD
playback where hardware decoding is needed; DVD Software Suite,
including QI DVD Player, Navigator and drivers based on QI's modular
architecture; and Software CineMaster, high-performance, all-software,
which permits DVD video and DVD ROM decoding and playback on PCs
running Windows.
Five to seven top PC OEMs will incorporate QI's software DVD solutions
in new products set for introduction this coming Christmas season, said
Harris, who declined to name the vendors.
QI is also preparing to leverage its modular software architecture for
non-PC consumer systems such as standalone DVD players and set-top
boxes, said Harris.
"We can certainly port our software to embedded controllers as well. In
fact, we already have our software module-based embedded consumer
systems up and running in our lab," he said. QI hopes to show this
technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next January.
Applications for QI's software technologies will not be limited to DVD
system implementation. The company plans to leverage its software
designed to manage real-time stream feeds, expanding its product to include
software solutions for DVB, DSS, HDTV and digital cable, Harris said. |
