Broadcom Demonstrates Chip for Cost-Effective HDTV Set-Top Boxes; HDTV/MPEG-2 Video-Graphics System-on-a-Chip Demonstration at Western Cable Show.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 1999--

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading provider of integrated circuits enabling broadband communications to and throughout the home and business, will demonstrate the television industry's first 2D/3D video-graphics subsystem that supports both Standard Definition Television (SDTV) and High Definition Television (HDTV) displays for North America, Europe and Japan, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, December 15-17.

Set-top box and television manufacturers now have a cost-effective, integrated, 2D/3D video-graphics platform that allows cable operators to support both SDTV and HDTV programming on the same system.

The new BCM7020 chip is the first Broadcom product to use the HDTV MPEG technology developed by Armedia, Inc. (Armedia was acquired by Broadcom in May 1999 and is now known as Broadcom India Pvt. Ltd.).

The Broadcom(R) BCM7020 High Definition, Video Graphic Subsystem is a high-performance single-chip solution that supports MPEG-2 video, Dolby Digital AC-3 and MPEG audio, 3D graphics, and studio-quality 2D text and graphics for SDTV and HDTV television displays. It can decode multiple video streams simultaneously, enabling new services such as the viewing of multiple camera angles and Picture-In-Picture, and is capable of decoding worldwide analog TV formats for the seamless integration of digital and analog television. The advanced graphics architecture supports multiple windows of text, graphics, and video.

A Unified Memory Architecture in the BCM7020 allows the system to use less memory than other system architectures, which reduces system costs. The level of integration and performance resulting from the BCM7020 provides operators with a very cost-effective design solution for set-top boxes with HDTV support. System designs using the BCM7020 only require an external processor, a network interface device and the desired I/O complement connected via the on-chip PCI bus interface.

"Our solution offers set-top box and television manufacturers a video-graphics backend platform that is HDTV-ready," said Rich Nelson, Broadcom's director of Cable TV. "This will allow manufacturers to standardize on the backend technology, giving them a very cost-effective solution today that can be used for Standard Definition or High Definition TV applications worldwide."

Systems based on Broadcom's video-graphics solution will allow operators to deliver HDTV programming that can be converted to an SDTV display. This saves the operator a significant amount of channel capacity, because now they can deliver a nationally televised program, such as the Super Bowl, in an HDTV format and still be able to support the SDTV viewers on the same channel. Additionally, television viewers can watch HDTV programming without purchasing an expensive HDTV system.

The BCM7020 is currently targeted at the SDTV and HDTV cable TV and satellite set-top box and television markets. The device is compatible with all of Broadcom's front-end receiver chips for cable-TV, satellite, DSL, and wireless applications, enabling it to be designed into virtually any system that supports SDTV and HDTV outputs.

BCM7020 Product Information

The BCM7020 incorporates an MPEG-2 video decoder that supports MP@ML (standard definition), and MP@HL (high definition) video decoding. This versatile video decoder is also capable of decoding multiple video streams simultaneously, enabling the display of tiled images or Picture in Picture. HD and SD output are displayed simultaneously on the analog output interface, giving the consumer the ability to watch HDTV while recording in SDTV. To support HD decode with display on SD television, the video decoder uses a reduced memory mode of operation to cut down on system memory requirements.

The BCM7020 also incorporates a highly advanced MPEG-2 transport engine. This engine is capable of handling up to three external transport stream inputs for supporting advanced set-top box applications by displaying multiple video windows on the television. The transport decoder is capable of demultiplexing multiple streams simultaneously and has 64 advanced section filters. The transport engine supports MPEG-2 and DigiCipher(TM) specifications and can be programmed to support others. The BCM7020 includes an industry standard DVB descrambler for the support of various conditional access algorithms.

The BCM7020 can decode MPEG audio streams as well as Dolby Digital AC3 streams. A PCM audio engine allows for this stream to be mixed with another external input PCM stream and/or a stream delivered under microprocessor control simultaneously. The advanced 2D/3D graphics engine allows studio-quality text and graphics to be displayed on television-based systems. The graphics engine supports many layers of graphics along with the display of multiple video windows, all of which can be anti-aliased and blended together. In addition, the chip incorporates anti-flutter and aspect ratio correction filters that support high quality viewing of Web-based content for applications such as Internet browsing.

A high-quality composite analog video decoder with 10-bit A/D is included on-chip to support analog television programming. Time base correction and comb filtering are also included in this flexible video-graphics architecture.

A system bus bridge supports both external MIPS and SH processors. This bus bridge connects the processor to external flash, SDRAM, I/O devices, and to the on-chip PCI bus controller. High-performance and flexible DMA controllers are provided to move data between these various interfaces. The chip employs a shared memory architecture by which all on-chip sub-systems share external memory. This memory architecture leads to a very efficient and cost-effective solution.

The BCM7020 is available today in sample quantities. It is priced at $50 in 10,000 piece quantities and is packaged in a 420-pin TBGA.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital data transmission of voice, data and video content to and throughout the home and within the business enterprise. Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, the Company designs, develops and supplies integrated circuits for a number of the most significant broadband communications markets, including the markets for cable set-top boxes, cable modems, high-speed office networks, home networking, direct broadcast satellite and terrestrial digital broadcast, and digital subscriber line (xDSL). Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.

Safe Harbor Statement of Broadcom Corporation under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "may," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with the BCM7020 product include, but are not limited to, the timing and successful completion of technology and product development through volume production; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for video-graphics/decoder-subsystems; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in the foregoing markets; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders; the loss of a key customer; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; silicon wafer pricing and the availability of foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims; our ability to specify, develop, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a timely manner; the effects of new and emerging technologies; the effectiveness of our product cost reduction efforts; fluctuations in our manufacturing yields and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations; our ability to retain and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the numbers, with the capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; changes in our product or customer mix; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effects of natural disasters and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; potential business disruptions, claims, expenses and other difficulties resulting from "Year 2000" problems in computer-based systems used by us, our suppliers or our customers; general economic conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address; and other factors.

Our recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Broadcom(R) and the Broadcom pulse logo are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and certain other countries. DigiCipher is a trademark of General Instrument Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.