1997-04-28 , S/IC-711/650

Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia group today published performance data for its TriMedia TM-1000, the same processor that was recently awarded Byte Magazine's Best Multimedia Hardware at CeBit '97. The TriMedia processor is a high-performance programmable chip designed for multimedia applications in consumer electronics and PCs. Based on very long instruction word (VLIW) technology, and a break-through VLIW scheduling C compiler, the TM-1000 performance data demonstrates the power and FLEXibility of the TriMedia processor in applications including video encode, decode, videotelephony and communications.

"The TriMedia TM-1000 provides the power of multiple DSPs with the FLEXibility and ease-of-programming of a general purpose processor," said Ayub Kahn, director of TriMedia software development "The TM-1000 is among the first of a new generation of processors designed specifically for digital media processing. The TriMedia performance data clearly shows that a low-cost TriMedia processor can power a wide range of consumer information and entertainment appliances, as well as bring consumer-quality video and audio to PCs."

Application	TM-1000 100 MHz % of Processor Utilization	TM-1000 133 MHz* % of Processor Utilization
MPEG-2, full DVD compliance	74%	51%
Dolby Digital AC3 6 Channel 2 Channel	26% 19%	21% 15%
H.324 Videophone, full options, 15 FPS (includes V.34/V.80)	89%

* TM-1000, 133 MHz performance calculations are based on 100 MHz TM-1000 performance and cycle accurate simulations.

The TriMedia TM-1000 achieves this performance with relatively slow clock rates because of its VLIW central processor core which can process five instructions with each clock cycle, allowing it to achieve up to four billion operations per second at 100 MHz. The TriMedia compiler supports C programming, and handles the VLIW scheduling as part of the compilation process. The TriMedia Software Development Environment provides performance tuning and analysis tools to optimize performance at the C language level, eliminating the need for machine code optimization.

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

Philips Semiconductors, Inc., a subsidiary of Philips Electronics North America and an affiliate of Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the ninth largest semiconductor supplier 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 regional customer application labs. Additional information on TriMedia processors can be obtained by accessing the trimmed home page at trimedia. Additional information about Philips Semiconductors can be obtained by accessing the home page at http://www.semiconductors.philips.com.