Oak Technology Debuts Industry's First MPEG Decoder Specifically Designed For Personal Computers; Advanced Compression Technology Combined With Video, Graphics Acceleration To Yield High-Performance, Low-Cost Multimedia Solution.SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 1994--Oak Technology Inc. Monday introduced the company's first video decompression processor for the multimedia personal computer and consumer markets. Combined with the company's 64-bit Spitfire video/graphics accelerator, the Oak OTI-201 MPEG decoder provides a comprehensive, low-cost solution for full-motion video, audio and graphics acceleration. Many of today's MPEG decoders are designed for set-top boxes or other non-PC environments, requiring additional chips when configured for PC architectures. The OTI-201 is the first glueless, PC-centric decoder supporting ISA (1) (Instruction Set Architecture) See instruction set. (2) (Interactive Services Association) See Internet Alliance. (3) (Internet Security and Acceleration) See .NET. , VL and PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). interfaces. "Oak's fully-integrated multimedia solution allows system vendors to incorporate high-performance graphics and video with MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). decoding on a single board," said Don Bryson, chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. for Oak. "With the complementary designs of our Spitfire and MPEG decoder architectures, Oak can now offer customers a comprehensive solution for a fraction of the cost of today's offerings." Based on Oak's custom 32-bit RISC RISC in full Reduced Instruction Set Computing Computer architecture that uses a limited number of instructions. RISC became popular in microprocessors in the 1980s. engine, the OTI-201 supports both MPEG 1 and MPEG 2, main profile, low level bit streams -- unlike most PC-based MPEG offerings. Typically, MPEG 1 limits the amount of data transfer to 1.5 Megabits per second (unit) megabits per second - (Mbps, Mb/s) Millions of bits per second. A unit of data rate. 1 Mb/s = 1,000,000 bits per second (not 1,048,576). E.g. Ethernet can carry 10 Mbps. -- which is equivalent to a data transfer rate of 1X CD-ROM drives. Using MPEG 2 technology, data ia transferred up to 6 Megabits per second -- requiring less data to be compressed and rendering a higher quality image. This higher transfer rate allows users to take advantage of 2X and 4X CD-ROM drive technology. Image quality becomes especially valuable for PC-based information kiosks and in-house computer-based training -- which represent the highest growth segments of the PC MPEG market. By utilizing a 16-bit video port from the Spitfire chip, decoded data is transferred from the MPEG decoder into the Spitfire's DRAM frame buffer. Users can add MPEG decoding functionality to Spitfire-based video/graphics subsystem simply by using the OTI-201 decoder, 4 Megabits of DRAM and an MPEG audio DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive chip -- delivering the industry's simplest and most cost-effective solution for the PC. Evaluation boards will be available to OEM customers by the end of the year. The evaluation package includes Windows 3.1 drivers, Video for Windows The name of Microsoft's first video playback implementation in Windows. Supporting the AVI movie format, Video for Windows (VfW) was installed separately in Windows 3.x, but was later built into Windows 95 and subsequent versions. drivers and video playback software. Volume production of the OTI-201 will begin this December with pricing starting at $29 in quantities of 10,000. Founded in 1987, Oak Technology Inc. designs, develops and markets integrated silicon and software multimedia solutions to OEMs worldwide. -0- Note to Editors: A product demonstration will take place in Oak's hospitality suite at COMDEX The former, premier computer trade show in the U.S. Although it grew into an end user event, it was originally created for dealers and distributors (it was the COMputer Dealers EXposition). , November 14-18. Please contact Scott Alberts at 408/737-0888 for further information or to arrange an appointment at the show. CONTACT: Oak Technology Inc.
Scott Alberts, 408/737-0888
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Miller Communications
Jodi Guilbault/Staci Sheppard, 415/962-9550
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