Mr.Hachman talks AViA-TV...
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C-Cube incorporates MAC into new chipset
By Mark Hachman
Electronic Buyers' News
(12/02/98, 02:39:50 PM EDT)
C-Cube Microsystems Inc. is continuing the feeding frenzy within the set-top-box arena by integrating a media-access controller within its latest AViA chipset.
C-Cube's two-chip AViA-TV chipset consists of the AViA-600, an MPEG-2 decoder; and the AViA-iNX, which combines demux, 2D graphics, a MAC, and peripheral controllers, plus an integrated, 80-mips sparcLite microprocessor.
By integrating the MAC within the fourth-generation AViA-TV chipset, C-Cube has diversified beyond its traditional niche, a strategy also employed by other silicon vendors to lure OEM design wins. For example, networking vendor Broadcom Corp. recently designed a 2D/3D graphics chip, and MPEG merchant Oak Technology Inc. has entered the QAM demodulator market.
“We think that [integrating the MAC] is what really sets us apart from our competition,” said Ed Silva, senior product marketing manager for C-Cube's Consumer Network Products unit, Milpitas, Calif.
The company has also integrated a three-tap flicker filter for clearer HTML text. The filter works in conjunction with six graphics layers, or “planes,” up from five in the third-generation AViA design. These include separate planes for the cursor, RGB1, RGB2, YUV, video/image media, and background shading.
In addition, the quality of the graphics engine has been increased from the third-generation AViA part, going from 16 to 24 bits per pixel.
The chips have been tested in systems designed by Divicom, a C-Cube subsidiary, and were displayed as part of a Divicom system at the Western Show cable exposition in Anaheim, Calif., last week. C-Cube's AViA-TV design was also selected by British set-top-box maker Pace Micro Technology for inclusion in its products designed for NTL, a British telecommunications provider.
Additionally, C-Cube has a working relationship with French services provider Canal Plus, which has adapted its control and conditional-access systems software to the C-Cube design. And Pioneer New Media Technologies Inc., Long Beach, Calif., has signed a strategic relationship with C-Cube to address the U.S. cable market.
Although the resulting set-top boxes supposedly will be compliant with the OpenCable standard, the OpenCable standards body has set no final specifications.
Both chips in the AViA-TV chipset are sampling now, with volume production expected by the first quarter of 1999. The AViA-600 is housed in a 208-pin PQFP, while the AViA-iNX is in a 241-lead BGA. The chipset will sell for less than $30 in volume.
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