AuraVision is a nice win for Cube. They were supposed to use Odeum's chip. Seems like partners keep changing.....................................
August 12, 1996, Issue: 914
Section: News
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DVD reference design unreeled
By Junko Yoshida
Fremont, Calif. - In a move to capture big design wins in the emerging DVD-enabled PC market, AuraVision Corp. and Odeum Microsystems Inc.-formally known as Hyundai Digital Media-have announced a partnership to offer a highly integrated MPEG-2 playback and video-capture solution for a bill of materials under $100.
Designated Fly Fisher, the reference design features Odeum's Microsparc-based single-chip MPEG-2 audio/video and AC-3 decoder, as well as AuraVision's video-stream processor.
The AuraVision/Odeum solution is equipped with a complete suite of DVD standard-compliant software features.
Fly Fisher uses Odeum's HDM8111. "The last time I counted, there are about 25 MPEG-2 chip suppliers, including those who are planning to offer chips soon," said Chris Day, director of marketing at AuraVision. "We decided to work with Odeum, because they have the most integrated solution in the industry."
The Odeum chip offers a complete, single-chip DVD decoder integrated with an MPEG-2 audio/video decoder, AC-3 decoder as well as other DVD-specific functional blocks.
The HDM8111, however, can't claim itself as a Dolby-certified AC-3 chip just yet. Lit Lam, senior marketing manager at Odeum, explained that the chip already cleared the first phase of Dolby's approval on the chip's simulation. But since Odeum is still waiting for its silicon to be returned from a fab, Dolby has not given Odeum its final Dolby AC-3-compliant certification, which has to be done in silicon.
What sets the Fly Fisher design apart from competitors' solutions is AuraVision's VxP524 video-stream processor. The VxP524 offers both PCI master and slave modes, with burst cycle support. AuraVision's Day noted that its PCI master burst mode enables real-time video capture and playback without bus and DRAM bandwidth bottlenecks.
IDTV Support
The Fly Fisher leverages the VxP524's ability to enhance the resolution of MPEG-2 video quality. The VxP524 offers both vertical and horizontal interpolated scaling, a dual-stage polyphase filter and color-space conversion with full 24-bit resolution. It also offers Improved Definition TV (IDTV) support by doubling the NTSC-video vertical resolution and eliminating half-line jitter.
The Fly Fisher evaluation board is available for $1,350, while its development kit with complete source code goes for $3,200. Since samples for HDM8111-designed specifically for DVD decoding-are not available yet, DVD board designers can start working on their own designs by using HDM8212 now, said Lam. Materials for a playback card are under $100, the companies said.
Copyright r 1996 CMP Media Inc.
[New Search] [Search the Web]
You can reach this article directly:
techweb.com |
