At IDF, Intel talks about new chip for HDTV
Intel (INTC) CEO Paul Otellini said this week that the chip giant is working on a project due next year, called IA System on a Chip, that should bring more PC-like power to advanced set top boxes and high-definition TVs.
During his keynote presentation at the Intel Developer Conference on Tuesday, Otellini highlighted consumer electronics as an important strategic growth area for the company. He said Intel will demonstrate IA System on a Chip at the Consumer Electronics Show, which is held in January in Las Vegas.
The new Intel chips, Otellini said in a Q&A after the keynote, will primarily target advanced set top boxes, HD TVs, and HD players – categories that include everything from TiVo's (TIVO) digital video recorders to Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) MediaSmart TVs, to Apple's (AAPL) Apple TV. Intel already has a chip in Apple TV.
The new IA System on a Chip will facilitate better Internet connectivity and more advanced software.
During the Q&A, Otellini also took a swipe at a recently announced plan by rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to release a version of its quad-core Phenom chip next year that has three operational cores. When someone asked Otellini whether he saw any advantage to that strategy, he said, "We see an advantage to having all the cores on our die work."
Jon:
HDTV may become universal one day, but there is a bandwidth/infrastructure problem looming for cable and telecom companies.
Video place-shifting by using cell phones, PDA’s, and any other mobile devices to view video content is also facing a major barrier: a mainly analog, inadequate infrastructure short on bandwidth capacity.
The cell phone infrastructure will not support the necessary pricing models, the image quality, and the amount of traffic required to meet an expected explosion in market demand for wireless video.
The US has dropped from 4th to 15th place in broadband rankings by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to Michael Kleeman, senior fellow at the Annenberg Center for Communication at USC, the advancement of video compression technology is key to dealing with this bandwidth crisis.
Currently, video viewing—an extremely bandwidth-intensive application—over wireless devices requires at least 300Kbps in bandwidth. Broadcast International’s CodecSys video compression technology can reduce this to 60 or 70 Kbp, an 80% reduction. Put another way, the existing infrastructure would be able to support about four to five-times as much video.
At IBC in Amsterdam last month, Broadcast International and IBM demonstrated a jointly developed video compression solution, which featured BI’s patented multiple codec CodecSys software running on IBM’s BladeCenter QS20 “Cell Blade” multi-core processor.
This new video compression solution is scalable, allowing for increased processing power by adding processors or “blades.” Similarly, CodecSys software allows for the easy upgrade to new codecs, making it future-proof. Other codec technologies employ embedded hardware-software solutions that are not easily upgradeable as standards change.
Please let me know if you would like more information or would like to talk with the people at Broadcast International or IBM. Thanks.
Broadcast International: OTC BB: BCST
http://www.brin.com