LSI LOGIC CORP unveiled a highly integrated, cost-effective single
chip decoding engine designed for all DVD applications. "Shipments
of DVD players and drives are expected to reach sales of more than
33 million units by the year 2000, making it one of the most
successful products of the decade," said Dale Ford, senior industry
analyst at Dataquest market research. "DVD will drive the huge
demand for semiconductor content, and LSI Logic, with its well-known
design wins in products like the Sony PlayStation and EchoStar's
satellite TV set-top boxes, is well positioned to take advantage of
this fast-growing market." (PR Newswire 09:04 AM ET 10/07/96) For
the full text story, see
NYSE: LSI) the world's leading developer of system-on-a-chip solutions for
the consumer electronics market, today unveiled a highly integrated,
cost-effective single chip decoding engine designed for all DVD applications.
The complex design combines nine separate cores, with more than two million
transistors and 45 memories into a single chip -- entirely developed through
LSI Logic's CoreWare(R) design program in less than ten months.
"With its high resolution, high storage capacity and affordable price, DVD
will truly have a profound impact on the digital electronics industry for
years to come," said Wilfred J. Corrigan, chairman and chief executive of LSI
Logic. "Just as audio compact discs with their improved sound quality changed
the music business, DVD will change how video is stored, ultimately replacing
the VCR. By rapidly developing cost-effective, single-chip DVD solutions, LSI
Logic will help play a significant role in accelerating the widespread
adoption of DVD products -- just as we have supplied leading-edge technology
into other prominent consumer electronics categories such as digital set-top
boxes, digital video cameras, and 32-bit video games."
DVD is a worldwide standard created by a consortium of major electronics
and entertainment corporations including Sony, Philips, Matsushita and
Toshiba. The standard allows professional, studio-quality sound and pictures,
or multimedia applications to be stored on five inch optical storage disks
similar to conventional compact disks. Each disk can hold up to 17 Gigabytes
of information, equivalent to an entire feature length movie with superior
color and clarity producing the finest picture detail. Consumers can select
up to eight different language tracks, with 32 sets of sub-titles, view
wide-screen or letterbox, or convert the movie between R and PG rated versions
for complete family entertainment.
LSI Logic is making available a feature-rich, versatile new chip capable
of being implemented in a variety of next-generation DVD applications such as:
* A DVD console -- to play back movies with high clarity and superior
picture quality to provide the ultimate home-theater experience.
* A DVD on a PC -- bringing true multimedia capabilities to the PC.
* A set-top box that integrates the DVD chip transforming it into a DVD
player at the click of a button to play back movies for studio-quality,
in-home entertainment.
* Video game players.
"Shipments of DVD players and drives are expected to reach sales of more
than 33 million units by the year 2000, making it one of the most successful
products of the decade," said Dale Ford, senior industry analyst at Dataquest
market research. "DVD will drive the huge demand for semiconductor content,
and LSI Logic, with its well-known design wins in products like the Sony
PlayStation and EchoStar's satellite TV set-top boxes, is well positioned to
take advantage of this fast-growing market."
"LSI Logic leveraged its leadership in consumer technology and
semiconductor expertise to develop the DVD chip," said Moshe Gavrielov,
executive vice president of LSI Logic's Products Group. "Our chips are
designed into leading-edge, high-volume MPEG-2 set-top boxes, and are also
used in first generation DVD players and multimedia add-in cards for the PC."
LSI Logic was able to cut its development time and engineering resources
to create this chip through its CoreWare(R) design process which enables
building blocks from a diverse product portfolio to be easily integrated into
complex silicon systems.
"As consumer electronics products become more digital and require shorter
design cycles, it is imperative to reconfigure and reuse what already exists
to meet market windows for our customers," said Gavrielov. "CoreWare
technology allows building blocks to be easily reconfigured. These functional
blocks can then be reused in multiple consumer applications."
"The portability and flexibility of our cores has been a distinct
advantage in the development of this design," he added. "There has never been
a simple, stable DVD specification to follow. As the standard evolved, the
specifications for the chip also evolved. Yet through our CoreWare process,
we were able to architect each design iteration as the DVD spec evolved
without having to start from scratch each time."
LSI Logic's one-chip DVD decoder integrates nine discrete chips into a
single design. The company added Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio coding technology
to provide stereo surround sound, and enhanced its MPEG-2 audio/video decoder
chip to provide a feature rich product that is key to DVD applications. The
chip supports major DVD features like pan and scan, and letterboxing to view
wide-screen movies on a conventional screen. The integrated sub-picture unit
also adds graphics, such as movie subtitles or karaoke text.
Availability
LSI Logic's proven expertise in silicon optimization and integration
further reduced the size of the product ensuring a cost-effective product
price to speed DVD market acceptance. The chip is available in a 160 Plastic
Quad Flat Package which is compatible with all other MPEG-2 products from LSI
Logic. The product will be shipping in volume to LSI Logic customers during
Q2, 1997.
LSI Logic Company Background
LSI Logic Corporation, The System on a Chip Company(TM), is a leading
supplier of custom high-performance semiconductors, with operations worldwide.
The company enables customers to build complete systems on a single chip with
its CoreWare(R) design program, thereby increasing performance, lowering
system costs and accelerating time to market. LSI Logic develops
application-optimized products in partnership with trendsetting customers, and
operates leading-edge, high-volume manufacturing facilities to produce
submicron chips. The company maintains a high level of quality, as
demonstrated by its ISO 9000 certifications. LSI Logic is headquartered at
1551 McCarthy Blvd., Milpitas, California 95035, 408-433-8000,
lsilogic.com.
NOTE: The LSI Logic logo design and CoreWare are registered trademarks of
LSI Logic Corporation. All other brand or product names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
SOURCE LSI Logic Corp.
interesting that lsi speaks of DESIGN no product yet!
MPEG-is right on TARGET
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