Sigma Designs Unveils Breakthrough Set-Top Box Design
World's First PC-Centric Set-Top Box with On-board Hardware MPEG Ready-to-Build Reference Design Available Now
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 1999--Sigma Designs, Inc. (Nasdaq:SIGM - news), the leading provider of DVD/MPEG-2 decoder solutions, announced today the immediate availability of its next-generation set-top box reference design, the STB 2000.
In its premier at the 1999 National Association of Broadcasters Convention, this unique convergence appliance will demonstrate a dramatic leap in flexibility, performance, and cost-reduction for cable companies, telcos, ISPs, satellite providers, and systems integrators that are deploying high bandwidth, digital video-ready Internet services.
Sigma's new set-top box design will provide users with a single appliance for browsing the Internet, sending/receiving e-mail, playing DVD and CD disks, ordering movies on-demand, and more.
Larry Ellison of Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL - news), for example, demonstrated in his NAB keynote address how an inexpensive, diskless set-top box equipped with REALmagic can display true time-shifted video-on-demand over a switched network. This revolutionary demonstration showed how, using today's latest network technology, anyone can come home from work and watch any program that was played on any TV channel that day, with fast forward and reverse play.
A diskless, encoder-less set-top box is absolutely the best digital VCR solution on the market today. It is less expensive because it eliminates two expensive parts -- the encoder and the hard disk. And it is easier to use, because it requires no programming of start times and channels.
The graphics subsystem on the box is the result of a close partnership between Sigma Designs and IGS Technologies of Santa Clara, Calif. The IGST CyberPro5050 multimedia controller features flicker-free NTSC and PAL TV output and has the highest picture quality rating of any chip for ensuring sharp, crisp display and blending of any video, text and graphics on TV sets. This is absolutely critical for enabling web browsing on standard TVs, which offer much lower resolution than computer monitors.
''Sigma Designs selected IGST for its leadership position in set top box multimedia,'' said Mike Raghavan, senior director of marketing at IGST. ''We are committed to making the Sigma Designs set top box design the most attractive platform for an OEM by providing far superior video quality and real-time OS support than any competitor.''
The REALmagic EM 8220 MPEG-2/DVD decoder chip on the motherboard interfaces directly to the CyberPro display chip for high-performance video in a window as well as full-screen DVD and MPEG-2 video playback that equals today's conventional set-top DVD players.
Further enhancing the STB 2000 is complete DirectShow streaming video support and full compatibility with the Oracle Video Server, SGI MediaBase, Microsoft NetShow Theater, Minerva VNP, VSoft VideoClick, InfoValue QuickVideo, BroadLogic Satellite Express DVB receivers, and the Philips CleverCastPC Data Broadcast System.
The STB 2000 can be configured by OEMs with a wide variety of network interface cards (NICs) and receiver cards for transmissions capabilities such as Ethernet, ATM, ADSL, cable modem, DVB, DSS, VSB, QAM, QPSK, and CODFM. This enables ISPs of any sort -- cable operators, telcos, and ADSL providers -- to deploy an integrated, low-cost solution that can combine on-demand and live television programming with Internet web browsing, e-mail, and a variety of other online services.
In addition to supporting the Windows 98 operating system, MPEG device driver support is also available for WindRiver VxWorks, a very popular, proven real-time operating system for embedded devices. This gives OEMs the opportunity to easily deploy fully embedded set-top boxes with streaming MPEG-2 as well as Internet web browsing.
''This design leverages Sigma's proven track record in DVD decoding and streaming video to provide the ideal living room PC,'' said William K. Wong, Sigma Designs' vice president of marketing. ''To get all the capabilities contained in the Sigma STB-2000 set-top box design, people previously have had to purchase multiple systems. The STB-2000 design provides a complete, low-cost solution for the convergence of HDTV, WebTV systems, and DVD players,'' he continued. ''Consumers will have everything they need without having to worry about connecting all of the devices. We are delighted to be able to support what consumers are asking for -- Internet-based information services for education and entertainment.''
Sigma Designs is working with key OEM manufacturers to build the set-top box based on the Sigma design. The design can be customized to provide various chassis form factors for the consumer living room environment. The set-top box 2000 design will be sold to OEMs, system integrators, telcos, and ISPs. This information appliance will be capable of e-mail communications and other features that take advantage of digital networks.
About Sigma Designs
Sigma Designs entered the multimedia market in 1993 with products based on the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) standard for compressing and decompressing digital audio and video signals. Since then, Sigma has been a driving force behind advancement of the MPEG technology used in most multimedia products on the market today. Sigma Designs' products include affordable MPEG video and audio decoding hardware. All Sigma Designs products are sold worldwide through a network of dealers, distributors, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). For additional information, call 800/845-8086 or 408/262-9003, fax 408/957-9740, or visit Sigma's web site at sigmadesigns.com.
Editors and Analysts: For further information, photographs, and interviews, please contact Andy Marken, marken@cerf.net or 408/986-0100.
Note to Editors: REALmagic is a trademark and Sigma Designs is a registered trademark of Sigma Designs. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
|
