1997-11-17 , S/IC-732/460

Award-winning media processor brings DVD video support and video encode and decode multimedia functions to PCs

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - November 17, 1997 - Philips Semiconductors TriMedia Product Group today announced that the TriMedia processor is now providing support for the DVD video standard, bringing DVD capabilities to PCs and consumer devices. The TriMedia processor already supports multiple video and audio encode and decode functions such as MPEG2, MPEG4 and Dolby AC-3.

The first customer to use the DVD capability in a product is Philips Electronics Mastering and Duplication (M&D) Business Unit, which also announced its TriCodec family of PC plug-in cards based on the TriMedia processor today at COMDEX. This product family adds real-time audio and video capture, as well as MPEG1 encoding and decoding, MPEG2 decoding, and DVD video to a PC environment on a low-cost PCI plug-in card.

The programmable TriMedia Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architecture processes multiple data types, including audio and video, concurrently. For DVD, the data types include MPEG2 video decode, as well as Dolby AC-3 multi channel audio decode. With the ability to execute up to four billion operations per second, TriMedia easily implements popular multimedia standards in a variety of applications.

'Philips has long been a leader in multimedia playback and storage technologies, first with CD-ROM and now with DVD,' said Koos Middeljans, general manager of Philips Electronics M&D Business Unit. 'The addition of the powerful TriMedia processor to our card design has helped us deliver a cost-effective and versatile solution for multimedia workstations.' 'TriMedia is an ideal building block for any multimedia application that requires concurrent processing of multiple data streams,' said Luciane Marques, director of marketing for Philips TriMedia. 'The TriCodec DVD cards take advantage of TriMedia's ability to manipulate and process multimedia information for DVD playback and video editing applications.' In multimedia applications, the TriMedia processor serves as a single-chip computer platform controlled by a small real-time operating system kernel. It achieves this with a high- speed internal bus and memory system to connect all function units together seamlessly. To further streamline data throughput, the TriMedia incorporates independent DMA-driven multimedia I/O and coprocessing units. These on-chip units manage input, output and formatting of video, audio, graphics and communications datastreams, and perform operations specific to key multimedia algorithms.

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. More information on TriMedia can be found at  trimedia.

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 applications labs. Additional information on Philips Semiconductors can be found on the home page at www.semiconductors.philips.com or by calling 1-800-447- 1500 ext. 1462.