TI's Next Generation Internet Audio Solution Delivers 3 Days Of Continuous Music Play
Leading Internet Audio Manufacturer Chooses TI's 4th Generation Internet Audio DSP and Analog-Based Solution
DALLAS, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Extending its leadership in the Internet Audio market space, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN - news) today unveiled the 4th generation programmable digital signal processor (DSP) and analog-based solution for Internet Audio products. TI's latest innovation delivers the most advanced battery management technology available, enabling up to 70 hours of Internet Audio playtime when running on only 2 AA batteries. The new chip set also offers the most complete system solution for Internet Audio applications, and will power new products expected in time for Christmas 2001. (See ti.com for more details)
TI's latest Internet Audio product, the TMS320DA250, balances powerful features and processing with the lowest battery consumption in the industry. The DA250 is based upon the world's most battery-efficient DSP core, TI's TMS320C55x(TM). It extends battery life up to 50 -70 percent more than the nearest competition. The DA250 will initially be delivered in 0.15um process and will drop to under 0.135um in late 2001, reducing power requirements by another 50 percent.
Mike Paxton, analyst at Cahners In-Stat Group, last month released a report on the Digital Audio market predicting that there will be 2.9 million portable digital music players shipped in 2000, 4.8 million in 2001, and 10.1 million in 2004. ``TI has a great track record and is well positioned in Digital Audio,'' said Paxton. ``TI's DA250 is a breakthrough product that could potentially have a big impact in the portable Digital Audio hardware industry.''
The DA250 is the most integrated Internet Audio solution on the market. It packs twice the processing power by offering the first dual Multiply and Accumulate Chip (MAC) on a DSP for the Internet Audio market. It is also the first chip for portable devices to embed Universal Serial Bus (USB) capabilities. By integrating these features onto one chip, the DA250 reduces manufacturer's cost, time-to-market and the size of the devices.
``Since TI continues to deliver low-power, advanced DSP technology that revolutionizes the Internet Audio industry, Samsung has chosen TI's DA250 solution for our next-generation Internet Audio player,'' said S.S. Kim, general manager of the Personal Network business unit, Samsung Electronics. ``With TI's market leading DSP- and analog-based solution, Samsung is well positioned to incorporate the latest features and technology available to provide our customers the very best digital music experience.''
TI's programmable DSPs offer the versatility to enable support for future product features and additional audio compression formats by allowing Internet Audio player manufacturers to update features and functions with a simple software download, rather than upgrading internal hardware. The chip's small size enables Internet Audio player manufacturers to design devices with extremely compact form factors. Due to the DA250's programmability, TI offers the most comprehensive and flexible hardware solution on the market, supporting the broadest selection of memory storage, audio compression formats and digital rights management (DRM) technologies. The DA250 will support Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick, Compact Flash, Smart Media and Multi-Media Card (MMC), and will be the first chip to offer SD, Memory Stick and the Liquid Audio Secure Portable Player Platform (SP3) security built-in. TI's chip set also supports direct connections to other media such as CDROM, hard disk drive (HDD) and SDRAM. TI's DSPs continue to support all of the most widely-used digital audio formats via simple software upgrades, including MP3, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Windows Media Audio (WMA), ePAC, Dolby® Pro Logic®, Dolby Digital 5.1, QDesign QDX, ATRAC3 and AudibleReady(TM) software speech codec ACELP®.net from VoiceAge, as well as DRM technology from InterTrust, Microsoft and Liquid Audio.
TI DSPs are the overwhelming choice for Internet Audio devices, having been selected by more than 60 manufacturers and eight of the top ten consumer electronics manufacturers. RCA, Sony, Sanyo, Toshiba, Samsung and LG Electronics use TI DSPs in a wide range of end equipments, such as portable Internet Audio players, car stereos, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cell phones and digital home jukeboxes. TI has shipped more Internet Audio specific semiconductors than any other manufacturer, shipping their one millionth Internet Audio DSP in June of 2000. TI expects to ship more than two million Internet Audio DSPs by the end of 2000. Building on its market leadership, TI's next-generation product line already has received commitments from leading consumer electronics manufacturers in the Internet Audio industry.
``The DA250 product is the future of Internet Audio hardware with the most advanced battery-efficiency and product feature set available,'' said John Van Scoter, vice president of the Internet Audio Business at TI. ``TI is dedicated to the Internet Audio space offering the most future-proofed, cutting-edge technology that is generations ahead of its competition.''
To help maximize battery performance, TI also announced today two new low-power DC-DC converters, the TPS6101x and TPS6200x families, that provide designers with a complete power management solution for Internet Audio players. TI is also developing a pin-compatible digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and codec that support Internet Audio solutions. All four analog products are planned for volume production for TI's next generation Internet Audio solution using the DA250 in 2Q01. (See power.ti.com)
Pricing and Availability:
TI's DA250 chip set is expected to be available for evaluation in early 2001 and pricing is planned to start at ten dollars in quantities of 250 thousand or more.
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