TI plans for digital TV. A VLIW media processor????
eet.com
<<In a series of interviews here and in Houston, executives said process
technology will take ASIC capability below 0.20 micron next year, as the
company - driven by a belief in a yet-unproven VLIW architecture -
scouts DSP applications in such areas as smart, third-generation cellular
phones and digital TVs.>>
<<SNIP>>
<<The new capabilities are being announced at a time when TI is seeking new
high-end applications for its DSPs beyond the cost-sensitive sockets they fill
today in modems, hard drives and cellular phones. "There are a lot of end
equipment areas we are working on that we haven't been public about," said
Tom Engibous, TI's chief executive officer. "We have a number of teams
working on everything from print technology to communications and the
consumer space. We see the living room going digital, starting with digital
still cameras, digital VCRs, digital camcorders and digital TVs."
Engibous sketched out such concepts as programmable DSPs, more
powerful than anything TI currently offers, that could be used to decode
digital cable-, satellite- or terrestrial-TV broadcasts. "There isn't a DSP out
there that meets these requirements," he said. "You see all these multimedia
processors trying to do TV-like functions . . . that's our play, if we can get
the chip out quickly."
Gene Frantz, a senior fellow with TI's DSP group, confirmed the company
has launched a DTV project at its Dallas headquarters but declined to give
details. "We are in the process of trying to find our direction here," said
Frantz, who added that TV makers still seek low-cost, hard-coded
solutions and that DTV-product concepts are still evolving.>>
<<SNIP>>
<<TI may have to reach for an architecture beyond its high-end C6X DSPs to
serve digital TVs or broadband mobile phones. That will drive the company
still deeper into the very long-instruction-word (VLIW) architectures it is
already pioneering with the C6X.
"No VLIW architecture has been successful to date, but longer term I
believe VLIW will win more high-performance DSP applications than any
other architecture," said Engibous. "I'll be frank: We were worried about
[using VLIW in the C6X], because if your compiler is not great the whole
thing dies. But our feedback on the C6X is promising."
TI needs the VLIW-based C6X to be a success and pave the way to new
high-end applications.>> |
