I posted this on the TMF Rambus board today:
Where are the HDTV chips?
I have been wondering lately who makes the chips for HDTV and naturally what memory do they use?
So I would like to start this thread to start collecting some data about this.
We know that rdram and xdr both have an advantage of "granularity" as compared with the other dram types.
What is the advantage of granularity? The main advantage is that one can use a single chip if the total amount of bits needed is not too high (typical memory chips now being 256Mb or 512Mb [going up] or 64MB / 128 MB.) This may well be the case in the HDTV application.
I know older TV chips (from Philips for example which supplies the parts for about a quarter of all TV sets ww) simply use sdram. It is not a speed issue in those sets. I am not sure if there is more of a speed issue in HDTV (more pixels, more definition i.e. more bits per pixel), but doubt it would need more than normal DDR can offer.
So the search for the HDTV chips has started.
I will come back with more as I find something, but please help me in this.
Found: (first ones straight from my site www.chipstocks.net)
1) Samsung:
Jan 13, 2004- SAMSUNG Launches Chipset for HD-TV and STB Market
"... announced its new high performance two-chip solution targeting the high definition television (HDTV) and set-top-box (STB) market. The company's new S5H2010 MPEG-2 decoder and S3C2800 Digital TV central processing unit (CPU) chipset offers a cost competitive solution allowing consumer electronics manufacturers to deliver low to mid-range price points that will drive wide adoption of HDTVs and HD STBs.
Market research firms, In-Stat/MDR and iSuppli Corp., expect the HDTV and HD STB market to reach close to 5 and 4 million boxes, respectively, by 2005. In addition, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has mandated that all new televisions over 13-inches be digital ready by 2007. SAMSUNG will leverage its consumer electronics experience, as well as its world-class semiconductor and manufacturing capability to support this burgeoning market...."
www.samsung.com/PressCenter/PressRelease/PressRelease.asp?seq=20040113_0000031526
2) Toshiba,
(we know that Toshiba has been manufacturing XDR chips for over a year)
November 11, 2004- Beko chooses Toshiba iDTV SoC for next generation of digital televisions New TVs will be first to feature single-chip DVB and MHEG-5 processors..."
I have emailed Toshiba for details of their chip.
3) Philips Semiconductors
February 17, 2004
Philips first to demonstrate multi-channel HDTV PCI Express*-based video solution at the Spring '04 Intel Developer Forum
www.semiconductors.philips.com/news/content/file_1041.html
4) Intel
January 8, 2004
Intel reveals new HDTV chip
Computer chip maker Intel Corp. says it's developed a new type of chip which could further improve the picture quality of high-definition television. ...
....
The new technology, code-named Cayley, is based on a technique called Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS), which is used to create small chips called microdisplays that produce images that are displayed on large-screen, rear-projection TVs, according to Intel President and Chief Operating Officer Paul Otellini.
The technology is based on an all-digital design that produces a sharper, more precise image than other architectures based on analog technology, the company says. LCOS technology sandwiches a layer of liquid crystal between a cover glass and a highly reflective, mirror-like surface patterned with pixels that sits on top of a silicon chip. These layers form a microdisplay that can be used in projection displays such as large-screen, rear-projection TVs. ...
www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2004/01/05/daily37.html
OK this is a redherring, just want it in here for general interest, this is about the display, but maybe .... more coming.
5) Texas Instruments
As we all know they are deep into DLP, of which we know for certain that the first chips use rdram. [we don't know what the present ones do, until Gotta opens up his DLP set :) ]
6) STMicro
They are strong in settop boxes. Check their site for hdtv:
Sept.14, 2004- First Single-Chip HDTV Set-top Box Solution from STMicroelectronics Cuts Costs and Integrates DVR and Security Capabilities
...
... A unified memory interface, with DDR (Double Data Rate) SDRAM support, optimizes the use of RAM chips and further increases performance, while an embedded high-performance graphics engine supports graphics-intensive tasks such as the channel's presentation of programmes. ...
www.st.com/stonline/press/news/year2004/p1494p.htm
7) ATI
Dec. 20, 2004- ATI's Digital Television division shipped more than 5 million chips for HD (high-definition) TVs and HD cable and terrestrial set-top boxes.
www.news.designtechnica.com/article6148.html
ATI claims:
Leading manufacturers of HD TVs and HD set-top boxes using ATI chips include:
Changhong
Coship
Funai (Sylvania)
Hisense
Hitachi
JVC
Mitsubishi
Matsushita (Panasonic)
Philips
Scientific-Atlanta
Samsung
Sanyo
Sony
TiVo
Toshiba
Thomson / TTE (RCA)
USDTV
Xoceco (PRIMA)
More later, I need a break.
Seems the race is on and the one which interests me most at short notice is the Toshiba one, as Toshiba has been making XDR before the HDTV chip was announced for about a year.
Cheers
Cor |
