1998-01-08 , S/IC-737/460

Philips Semiconductors TriMedia™ Product Group announced that it will demonstrate the first in a series of TriMedia DTV Reference Platforms. The first platform is a complete reference design for developing ATSC TV sets, set-top devices and PCs, supporting all 18 Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) formats from standard definition video to wide-angle, high definition video. In addition, the platform can be easily programmed to provide custom features and support additional applications such as video email, video telephony, Internet access and communications.

The TriMedia DTV reference platform includes both hardware and software to allow manufacturers to quickly develop ATSC television sets, set-top boxes, and PC-TVs. In addition, the programmable architecture enables manufacturers to easily add new features and support emerging services such as program guides, interactive advertising, web content, games and video telephony. The first manufactuers to announce use of the TriMedia Reference Platform are Philips Electronic Sound & Vision Group and Samsung Information Systems America

"With its standards-based open architecture, the TriMedia DTV platform has the power to handle HDTV video/audio decoding as well as the flexibility to process advanced interactive services," said Dirk Logie, general manager DTV Product Sector for Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia Product Group. "We are demonstrating our commitment to establish TriMedia as an industry standard by partnering with leading TV/set-top box manufacturers and establishing a common framework to support new digital services."

"The DTV market is still evolving throughout the world so there is a clear need for a programmable solution like the TriMedia DTV reference platform," said Doug Dunn, chairman and CEO, Philips Consumer Electronics. "We chose to standardize on the TriMedia platform because it gives us the flexibility to design devices that support today's standards, as well as emerging interactive services the industry plans to implement. Philips has been a pioneer in TV technology, and DTV provides us with yet another opportunity to provide exciting new services associated with the TV."

Benefits to Manufacturers
The TriMedia processor's high-performance, programmable architecture and its ability to support additional features make it an ideal architecture for DTV. Additionally, it allows manufacturers to provide a full range of products based on a single architecture that can be easily upgraded with software to meet changing market requirements.

Additional reference designs will add functions, provide a higher level of integration, support new standards such as conditional access, and incorporate higher performance TriMedia processors.

Functional Description
The TriMedia DTV Reference Platform includes a network interface module (NIM) using the recently announced Philips VSB (vestigial side band) chip that provides all channel-decoding functions from tuning to transport stream generation. The TriMedia processor along with special function chips, provides audio and video source decoding (high level MPEG-2, AC-3 and ProLogic audio, closed captioning, etc.). In addition, the processor supports remote control functions and a graphical user interface.

The TriMedia design also provides hardware to support existing NTSC broadcast signals and image enhancement algorithms to improve NTSC video quality.

Software Components
Philips provides a turnkey DTV software application so manufacturers can bring products to market quickly and easily. In addition, because the TriMedia processor is easy to program, developers can add custom features or incorporate software modules for applications such as communications and video telephony. To support developers, the Reference Platform includes the TriMedia Software Development Environment (C/C⁺⁺ compiler, debugger, optimization tools) and the pSOS+™ real-time operating system.

Philips Semiconductors
Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia product group was established in 1994 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. The mission of the product group is to bring to market high-performance, programmable multimedia processor technology that will power the next generation of multimedia products at an affordable price. TriMedia's website is  trimedia.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the ninth largest semiconductor supplier in the world and the fourth largest supplier of discretes in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by systems labs.

 TriMedia is a Trademark of Philips Electronics North America. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.