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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Rieman who wrote (50029)	9/19/2000 11:27:40 AM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

This artical has the same ANALyst touting the benifits of single chip solutions. Also, doesn't he know that Linux runs on Sparc? IBM pares STB logic to one chip Mark Hachman 04/19/1999 Electronic Buyers' News 26 Copyright 1999 CMP Publications Inc. Silicon Valley- IBM Microelectronics has integrated the back-end logic components of a set-top box into a single chip, a feat the company claims will further speed OEM designs to market. IBM's new device family is designed to accept an MPEG or analog data stream in serial or parallel format from a third-party front end, which receives the signal from a terrestrial satellite or cable interface. IBM's chip processes the video and audio signal by using a 50-MHz/50-mips PowerPC 401 core. The signal is then sent through an integrated NTSC/PAL decoder directly to the output display. The chip is available in two versions: The "STB01000" processes MPEG audio only, while the "STB01010" applies the Dolby Digital AC-3 algorithm. Analysts said IBM's single-IC family takes set-top-box integration a step further, given that most back-end device designs to date feature two chips that separate the demultiplex components from the decoder logic. "IBM's saying that there's a case to be made in integrating all these cores down to one [chip]," said Jay Srivatsa, an analyst with Dataquest Inc., San Jose. In addition to a lower bill-of-materials cost and a quicker design cycle, IBM executives said the one-chip device requires little support from the system CPU. This frees up the processor to compute the OEM's software package, allowing customers to add value by differentiating their design, said John Sixsmith, worldwide marketing manager for network-access devices at IBM Microelectronics, Fishkill, N.Y. "The processor is largely available," Sixsmith said. "This allows support for pretty good graphics, as well as superior audio/visual quality." The PowerPC core includes 4 Kbytes of instruction cache and 2 Kbytes of data cache. An additional 4-Kbyte block has also been integrated into the chip. While the additional block cannot be accessed by software, the memory can be quickly accessed like a cache to support future filtering standards, Sixsmith said. Unlike some competing set-top-box decoders, IBM's chip does not apply hardware antialiasing filtering for displaying movie subtitles, but instead processes that function in software. Analysts pointed out that the trend toward integration is forcing more chip manufacturers to choose between processing functions in hardware and software. IBM's chips are manufactured on a 0.35-micron process and will cost less than $30 in OEM volumes. Formally known as the "IBM39 STB01000 PBB 22C" family, the chips are sampling, with production volumes slated for July. April 19, 1999

To: John Rieman who wrote (50029)	9/19/2000 1:06:53 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

"C-Cube is one of the only STB chipmakers using SPARC" PowerTV runs on Sparc. Scientific-Atlanta uses PowerTV (and Sparc). If you accept the analyst assertion that "C-Cube is one of the only STB chipmakers using SPARC". Then maybe you should conclude that C-Cube's new chip, would be pretty attractive to SFA... Dots... PowerTV, Inc. has a close working and capital relationship with Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., the second largest manufacturer of analog set-top boxes worldwide. With more than 40 years of experience in the broadband business, Scientific-Atlanta has helped PowerTV, Inc. form a clear understanding of the hardware and market requirements for these devices. All digital home communications terminals (HCTs) manufactured by Scientific-Atlanta will include the PowerTV operating system and multimedia ASICs. PowerTV Customers PowerTV is currently working with a number of major set-top manufacturers, including Nokia, Pace, Pioneer, Sagam, Scientific-Atlanta, and Toshiba to incorporate the PowerTV OS into a variety of peripherals. We are committed to licensing our technology to additional hardware manufacturers and to being the de facto standard in advanced TV. powertv.com PowerTV news: powertv.com