HITACHI'S NEW PRIUS LCD PCS FEATURE SILICON IMAGE SII 861 PANELLINK MONITOR CONTROLLER.

Hitachi Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan) has incorporated Silicon Image's SiI 861 Digital Visual Interface (DVI)-compliant monitor controller into its recently announced 5 and 7 Series Prius LCD PCs. The SiI 861 is a single-chip solution coupling an advanced scaling engine with a robust PanelLink Digital receiver for a cost-effective, high-quality, pure-digital visual experience.

The SiI 861's PixelPrecision image processing offers enhanced scaling quality that makes text particularly crisp and legible, while rendering extremely smooth and natural graphics. The SiI 861 also offers a higher level of functional integration by incorporating a Low-Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) transmitter, which is compatible with all single-channel LVDS panels. Benefits include greater reliability, lower total system cost and reduced board space requirements.

"The SiI 861 is the second Silicon Image monitor controller we have incorporated into our LCD PC systems," noted Ookubo Shigeyoshi, project manager, Application Products Development Project, Media Station Business Operation, Digital Media Group, Hitachi, Ltd. "We continue to be pleased with the high performance and ease of integration offered by Silicon Image's DVI solutions. In the case of the SiI 861, we were impressed with the superior scaling quality. Silicon Image is the price/performance leader for digital-only scalers."

Parviz Khodi, vice president of marketing for Silicon Image, noted, "Our monitor controller products are one example of how Silicon Image continues to innovate and add functionality to our DVI-compliant PanelLink, and this Hitachi design win is a significant milestone in our integration strategy. While the SiI 861 has been incorporated in systems from leading Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers, Hitachi is the first major Japanese OEM to use the SiI 861 in a PC application. Hitachi was convinced that Silicon Image was the best solution for this application."

Lower resolution inputs are automatically upscaled to any output resolution up to SXGA+ (1400x1050). The SiI 861 is the only scalar on the market that does not require an external microcontroller and memory, thereby simplifying flat panel monitor design. This enables lower system costs and speeds time-to-market for LCD OEMs.

The SiI 861 is also the world's first High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP)-enabled monitor controller. By enabling a secure digital link between a video source and a digital display device, HDCP is a system for protecting DVI outputs from being copied. As such, HDCP is a robust, cost-effective and transparent method for receiving digital entertainment video that has been encrypted and protected using HDCP, an extension of DVI that is supported by a number of Motion Picture Association companies, including Disney, Fox and Universal Studios.