Don't plan on buying a HDTV with C-Cube inside this Christmas. C-Cube is working on second generation chips. The market for 1st generation is not big enough to recoup your R&D.
eb-mag.com
As a leading producer of video decoding chips, C-Cube Microsystems Inc., Milpitas, CA, may profit handsomely when digital television takes off. But the company is approaching the market cautiously until its acceptance becomes clearer. "We need to predict when HDTV [will pass] the 100,000-unit mark," says Didier LeGall, chief technical officer. Below that figure, "it's not such a good business to be in."
Digital TV will require a more robust MPEG 2 solution than is available today, LeGall says. C-Cube's decoder chips currently run at about 80 megahertz, a figure that will need to be boosted to 150-200 MHz, for digital TV. "We could have that in a year or year and a half if the market demanded it," he says. The company will need to tackle the issue of heat generation, since set-top boxes don't contain fans, he adds.
C-Cube is also investigating the video encoding side of the digital TV market, and expects to have chips for that function available by next year, LeGall says. While it doesn't represent the volume potential of TV receivers, there will still be an important market created for chip makers when digital TV cameras and broadcasting equipment are built. |
