C-Cube and Toshiba Partner To Develop Industry's First PC98 Compliant DVD Decoder; Low Power Solution Ideal For Notebook and Desktop Implementations
MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 1998--C-Cube Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:CUBE), the market leader in digital video technology, today introduced ZiVA-PC(TM), a single-chip DVD playback solution designed with Toshiba specifically for notebooks and desktop PCs.
ZiVA-PC offers the industry's lowest overall system cost for hardware DVD playback as well as the lowest power consumption, while delivering true interactivity and flawless image quality. As the first hardware DVD solution designed for full PC98 compliance, ZiVA-PC offers OEMs an easy-to-implement solution leveraging Microsoft's O/S DVD features.
"With the evolution of DVD drives and O/S support in Windows '98, we believe that DVD is primed to proliferate the PC market," said Patrick Henry, senior director of marketing for C-Cube's PC/Codec Division. "ZiVA-PC takes advantage of the market's readiness by delivering a solution that makes it more enticing than ever for PC OEMs to incorporate the benefits of hardware DVD playback into their notebook and desktop designs."
"C-Cube is an experienced supplier to PC OEMs," said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Associates, a leading market research firm for information and analysis on digital media technology. "The ZiVA-PC decoder addresses many issues which concern notebook and desktop system suppliers. Listening, cooperating, and integrating have yielded a compelling low-cost offering which will significantly increase the penetration of systems capable of interactive DVD."
PC-Centric Design Leverages Windows '98 O/S and Addresses Power Consumption
ZiVA-PC was designed in conjunction with Toshiba to create a notebook motherboard-ready DVD playback solution that leverages the Windows '98 O/S DVD features, meets all PC98 requirements and delivers low power dissipation (1.5 watts or less).
ZiVA-PC includes a Mobile-PCI interface, an SDRAM interface and Bus Mastering with scatter and gather DMA (Direct Memory Access). It also incorporates full support for the PC98 ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) specification and enables implementation of Windows '98 OnNow functionality. These combined attributes reduce CPU utilization and provide significant power savings.
"The high quality DVD playback from this single chip will be the central component of the next generation of DVD decoding hardware solutions Quadrant International is developing for PC OEMs. Working closely with C-Cube, we will integrate the ZiVA-PC chip into DVD solutions built around our unique modular architecture, creating a range of products with a consistent look-and-feel that differentiates us for our customers," said Leonard Sharp, vice president of sales and marketing at Quadrant International, a leading provider of digital video products.
ZiVA-PC Delivers True Interactivity
With ZiVA-PC, users can play interactive titles as well as movies while other tasks are being performed on the PC. In addition, ZiVA-PC provides advanced DVD features including "Jog-and-Shuttle" for smooth forward and reverse scanning of I, B and P frames, and "Zoom-and-Roam" enabling two and four times enlargement of sections of full-motion video.
ZiVA-PC also uniquely has on-chip color, contrast and brightness controls which allow control of the video window image independently of the graphics display settings.
Glueless Interface Allows Flexibility in OEM Design
Within ZiVA-PC, C-Cube has integrated video side-port logic that provides a glueless interface with all of the leading graphics controllers, supporting VMI, VIP, LPB, AMC and Zoomed-Video video ports.
"Eliminating the requirement for additional glue logic gives OEMs a powerful and cost-effective DVD implementation that complements the high performance graphics capabilities of our designs," notes David Watkins, vice president and general manager of the multimedia division at Diamond Multimedia (NASDAQ:DIMD).
Reference Design Gets OEMs to Market Quickly
With this introduction, C-Cube is offering a ZiVA-PC PCI-board reference design that accelerates the time-to-market process for OEMs. The reference design is supplied with extensive software support including WDM (Win32 Driver Model) drivers, a full navigation application and VPM/VPE software for leading graphics controllers. The board comes with schematics, gerber files and extensive application notes.
Pricing and Availability
The Company plans to ship volume production units of ZiVA-PC in June 1998. The ZiVA-PC chip is priced at $22.00 in high volume.
About the ZiVA Family of DVD Decoders
ZiVA offers the highest level of integration in a DVD solution by incorporating many critical functions into a single chip: MPEG-2 video decoding, Dolby Digital decoding, MPEG audio decoding, SecureView(TM) CSS authentication and descrambling, sub-picture decoding, on-screen display, linear PCM audio decoding, demultiplexing, audio/video synchronization. It also includes NTSC to PAL translation that allows users to view NTSC DVD content on PAL-format televisions.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including the expected volume availability for OEMs and manufacturers. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of the risk factors set forth below and elsewhere in this press release.
About C-Cube Microsystems
C-Cube Microsystems Inc. is the industry leader in the development and delivery of highly integrated digital video silicon solutions that address the consumer electronics, communications and computer markets. C-Cube is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif. with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Its stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol CUBE. C-Cube can be reached at 1-408/490-8000 at c-cube.com. -0- Note to Editors: C-Cube, the C-Cube logo and ZiVA are trademarks or registered trademarks of C-Cube Microsystems Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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CONTACT:
C-Cube Microsystems, Public Relations
Molly McCarthy, 408/490-8017
molly.mccarthy@c-cube.com
or
C-Cube Microsystems, Investor Relations
Nick Kormeluk, 408/490-8561
nick.kormeluk@c-cube.com
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