Panasonic has developed the world's first Blu-ray Disc (BD) player-specific single-chip signal processing LSI, in response to the latest BD standards.
Until now, in order to construct BD players with conventional Blu-ray LSIs, separate front end and back end LSIs were required, in addition to seven external memory chips.
Panasonic's new LSI combines both the front end interface to read the signal from the BD (laser control, servo/data reading, error correction, etc), and a back end (decoder and graphics engine, CPU core, Ethernet controller, etc).
The new LSI will allow Panasonic to offer more compact and BD players that consume significant less power, while they will be compatible with the latest BD-ROM standards version 2, Profile 2. Profile 2 features include functions such as dual-screen simultaneous video playback, high-quality audio playback, and network compatibility.
Video decoding capabilities enable video playback for BD, DVD, and CD media, and the supported standards include MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and VC-1; high-quality audio playback compatible with lossless coding and dual-screen simultaneous video playback including high definition video. A high-speed graphics engine also enables 2D and 3D graphic processing or curved surface drawing.
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BROADCOM
At present, the top three System-On-A-Chip aka SoC maker for Blu-Ray technology are Sigma Design, Broadcom and Panasonic UniPhier. Majority of current Blu-ray players are coming from sigma Design’s SMP8634 SoC, but the company may face the toughest challenge with its rival’s recent acquisition of Sunext Design
Broadcom has announced that they have acquired optical disc technology expert and cost optimized single-chip SOC solutions Sunext Design. The acquisition will allow Broadcom to expend its SoC back-end Blu-ray Disc platform to feature recording solutions in the future. Blu-ray and HD-DVD recorder is more popular in Japan than it is in US, in fact, I don’t remember a single release of standalone Hi-Def recorder in US except a few optical drives in PC industry. The end of Format War and cheaper SoC on its way may spike the AV Industry’s Interests in Blu-Ray optical recorder, but I have to admit, it’s really tough to beat HDD recorder. Optical recording is outdated, Blu-Ray or not.
Until now, in order to construct BD players with conventional Blu-ray LSIs, separate front end and back end LSIs were required, in addition to seven external memory chips.
Panasonic's new LSI combines both the front end interface to read the signal from the BD (laser control, servo/data reading, error correction, etc), and a back end (decoder and graphics engine, CPU core, Ethernet controller, etc).
The new LSI will allow Panasonic to offer more compact and BD players that consume significant less power, while they will be compatible with the latest BD-ROM standards version 2, Profile 2. Profile 2 features include functions such as dual-screen simultaneous video playback, high-quality audio playback, and network compatibility.
Video decoding capabilities enable video playback for BD, DVD, and CD media, and the supported standards include MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and VC-1; high-quality audio playback compatible with lossless coding and dual-screen simultaneous video playback including high definition video. A high-speed graphics engine also enables 2D and 3D graphic processing or curved surface drawing.
===========================================
BROADCOM
At present, the top three System-On-A-Chip aka SoC maker for Blu-Ray technology are Sigma Design, Broadcom and Panasonic UniPhier. Majority of current Blu-ray players are coming from sigma Design’s SMP8634 SoC, but the company may face the toughest challenge with its rival’s recent acquisition of Sunext Design
Broadcom has announced that they have acquired optical disc technology expert and cost optimized single-chip SOC solutions Sunext Design. The acquisition will allow Broadcom to expend its SoC back-end Blu-ray Disc platform to feature recording solutions in the future. Blu-ray and HD-DVD recorder is more popular in Japan than it is in US, in fact, I don’t remember a single release of standalone Hi-Def recorder in US except a few optical drives in PC industry. The end of Format War and cheaper SoC on its way may spike the AV Industry’s Interests in Blu-Ray optical recorder, but I have to admit, it’s really tough to beat HDD recorder. Optical recording is outdated, Blu-Ray or not.