Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: BillyG who wrote (33709)	6/9/1998 2:33:00 PM
From: Peter V	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Neo's new chip aimed at DVD market . . . . But does it eliminate the need for an MPEG decoder chip? Comments? No 3d AGP on new chip??? By Mark Hachman Silicon Valley- Figuring that the best way to save power is through integration, NeoMagic Corp. has combined graphics and audio in its latest 256-bit graphics chip. If the device ships in volume in two weeks as scheduled, the MagicMedia256AV will be the first 256-bit entry into the mobile graphics space. It will also be the first mobile graphics IC with 2.5 Mbytes of embedded SGRAM. In a puzzling twist, Santa Clara, Calif.-based NeoMagic has included an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) connection to the new chip to transfer not graphics data, but audio. The chip performs 3D graphics calculations, but only in software, leaving "extended" 3D hardware acceleration to future products. "We've talked to our customers, and the feature they've most requested is DVD," said Rick Calle, senior marketing manager at NeoMagic. Three- dimensional graphics capabilities will be added in the fall, he said. "As to the AGP question, AGP doesn't necessarily need 3D graphics-it's just that 3D graphics work better with AGP," he said. Analysts have split over which company has the largest unit market share-NeoMagic or Chips and Technologies Inc., now owned by Intel Corp. NeoMagic's new chip also includes multiple Zoomed Video (ZV) interfaces that can be used to connect to an unannounced ZV 3D accelerator peripheral from Quadrant International Inc., Calle said. Calle added that he doesn't know the speed of the chip's AGP connection. Nevertheless, the bandwidth of approximately 3.2 Gbytes/s will be used to display images on multiple monitors, as well as to process DVD data. That DVD processing will be shared between host software and the chip itself, which contains a motion-compensation logic block, but not a hardware MPEG-2 decoder. Audio will be handled by an AC '97 digital controller integrated into the MagicMedia256AV or by the MagicWave 3Dx, NeoMagic's proprietary Sound Blaster-compliant analog codec that fulfills the analog requirement of the AC '97 specification. Wavetable synthesis is handled in host software, but AC-3 decoding and sample-rate conversion logic blocks are included on-chip. In addition, multiple AC '97 connections-in compliance with the AC '97 2.0 specification-enable the chip to connect to a second audio codec, perhaps built into a notebook's docking station, Calle added. All these capabilities still consume less than 1 W, Calle noted. NeoMagic has taken into account concerns about EMI. The MagicMedia chip family will be the first to include MagicPass, a proprietary method of reducing EMI in the chip itself. The LVDS and PanelLink standards also reduce EMI, but in the cable that connects the chip to the flat-panel display. MagicPass "wobbles" the clock speed within set constraints, using a spread-spectrum algorithm designed to minimize interference. The MagicGraph256AV will be available in a 329-pin BGA for $65 in 10,000-piece lots.