Media processors jockey for position in untested consumer markets
techweb.cmp.com
Excerpts from the article:
<<Though they are not a fixture in today's PCs, by no means are media signal
processors stagnating from a technology perspective. Companies such as
Chromatic Research Inc. and Philips Trimedia group - which were
among the first to tout the virtues of powerful DSP-like chips that offered
the flexibility of processing multiple concurrent data streams - are still
beating the media-processor drum, though their tune may have changed a
bit. And DSP stalwarts like Texas Instruments are also talking up the role
of media processors for future platforms even as startups quietly prepare to
enter the fray.>>
<<snip>>
<<In the case of Chromatic, for instance, the company took almost
a year to release its software modules for its first-generation Mpact
processor. Philips Trimedia also failed to gain a solid foothold in PCs,
falling victim to Microsoft's ill-fated Talisman project, which envisioned a
3-D graphics board equipped with a powerful media processor.>>
<<snip>>
<<Samsung, which canceled its program
last year after encountering internal discord. Others, like Rockwell
Semiconductor, which brags that its DSP expertise is one of the best-kept
secrets in the industry, studied media processing but decided it wasn't
worth the risk of challenging CPU-centric computing.>>
<<snip>>
<<... as media-processor companies were struggling to give OEMs a
compelling reason to risk moving away from using a powerful and
expensive CPU in combination with hardwired peripheral chips, Intel was
cranking out faster CPUs with barely a hiccup.>>
<<snip>>
<<Karl Guttag, a fellow with TI's digital signal processing semiconductor
group in Dallas, said he is "very optimistic about media processors," adding
that in the next three years these processors will enable TVs to be the chief
source of information and entertainment for consumers. He would not
comment on whether TI, which has focused most of its high-end DSP
development on its C60 line, was working on such a media processor.>>
<<snip>>
<<Equator Technologies Inc. (Campbell, Calif.), a startup that is expected to
announce this year a media processor based on very long-instruction word
(VLIW) technology, will likely emphasize the need for media processors as
a means to handling the 18 specified HDTV formats.>> |
