Zoran MPEG2 Core Inside Imedia Digital Video Hub for the Digital Cable Market.SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 1999--Imedia's CherryPicker(TM) -- Industry's First Digital Video Hub -- Benefits From Zoran's Compact VLSI VLSI: see integrated circuit. (1) (Very Large Scale Integration) Between 100,000 and one million transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, LSI and ULSI. (2) (VLSI Technology, Inc., Tempe, AZ, www.semiconductors. IP Core Delivering a Flexible and Cost Effective Solution Zoran Corporation (Nasdaq:ZRAN), a leading provider of integrated circuits (ICs) and software for digital video and audio applications enabled by compression, announced today that Imedia Corporation is now shipping Zoran's 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). 2 intellectual property (IP) VLSI core in its new CherryPicker digital hub for cable service providers. This is the same IP core that is already shipping in high volume inside Hitachi's set top box for PerfecTV in Japan. Aimed at the high growth market of digital video broadcast, the CherryPicker accepts practically all video streams (such as digital satellite broadcasts, local stations, video servers, HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy , ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network , MTV MTV in full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. , and Showtime Networks). The CherryPicker allows service providers to squeeze their selected program streams to match their available bandwidth with no visible quality degradation. Zoran's broad understanding and knowledge of digital video has once again contributed to a breakthrough product such as the CherryPicker. "Using Zoran's off-the-shelf MPEG2 decoding core greatly reduced Imedia's time to market by eliminating the need for us to re-design one of the core technologies integrated into the CherryPicker," stated Fabrice Quinard, Vice President of Engineering for Imedia. "The market for digital cable services is expanding exponentially and Zoran supported us in providing this market with a top quality solution in record time." "Imedia's use of our MPEG2 decoder core reinforces our leadership position as a complete multimedia solutions provider," said Dr. Shmuel Farkash, Vice President of Video Products for Zoran. "By providing our various customers with a wide range of technologies, including intellectual property cores, software and ICs, Zoran can effectively address the needs of manufacturers, enabling them to significantly reduce time-to-market and development costs, while offering unprecedented flexibility and product differentiation Product Differentiation A source of competitive advantage that depends on producing some item that is regarded to have unique and valuable characteristics. ." CherryPicker is a revolutionary product that, among other capabilities, compresses up to 24 digital video channels into one analog channel. As its name implies, CherryPicker gives operators the ability to select content from a variety of programming sources and retransmit Verb 1. retransmit - transmit again channel, transmit, carry, impart, conduct, convey - transmit or serve as the medium for transmission; "Sound carries well over water"; "The airwaves carry the sound"; "Many metals conduct heat" to customers a statistical multiplex, or "custom bouquet," of programs and services never before available. CherryPicker is built with Zoran's highly-optimized MPEG2 intellectual property core design which offers superior image quality at a very low gate count. The technology independent decoder supports Main Profile at Main Level (MP@ML MP@ML Main Profile @ Main Level ) decode including system layer parsing, MPEG audio and video decode, error recovery and synchronization. It also includes a highly efficient virtual memory controller which requires only one 16 Mbit SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) A type of dynamic RAM (DRAM) memory chip that has been widely used since the late 1990s. SDRAM chips eliminated wait states by dividing the chip into two cell blocks and interleaving data between them. to decode all picture and sequence types, with space and bandwidth left over for on-screen-display data. The low gate count ensures its acceptance in high-volume, cost-sensitive applications such as PC multimedia and consumer products. Other Zoran cores include Dolby Digital decoder, NTSC/PAL video encoder, NTSC/PAL/SECAM video decoder, and motion compensation. Zoran's core product package includes documentation and source code as well as a full test and simulation environment for a complete turn-key design. Zoran's established video expertise and support enable customers to develop top quality products based on Zoran's multimedia cores. ABOUT ZORAN Zoran Corporation develops and markets software, integrated circuits (ICs) and IC Intellectual Property (IP) cores for digital audio and video applications enabled by compression. Zoran also provides complete reference designs based on Zoran's technology. Zoran's product lines and IP include JPEG JPEG in full Joint Photographic Experts Group Standard computer file format for storing graphic images in a compressed form for general use. JPEG images are compressed using a mathematical algorithm. codecs, MPEG and DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. decoders, digital audio processors and real-time DVD software for PCs. All these standard-based products benefit from Zoran's Standard Plus(TM) technology. Zoran's software is bundled by PC and graphics-card manufacturers for software and software assisted DVD playback on PCs. The company's ICs are used in numerous digital audio and video products. Leading applications incorporating Zoran's products and IP include professional and consumer video editing systems, filmless digital cameras, standalone and PC-based DVD players, SuperVCD players, digital speakers and audio systems. Zoran is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. with additional operations in Haifa, Israel, Toronto, Canada and offices in Tokyo, Japan and Shenzhen, China. For more information about Zoran call 408/919-4111, or visit our website: www.zoran.com. For our latest press releases please call our fax-on-demand service at 1-800/PRO-INFO, ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors ZRAN. ABOUT IMEDIA Privately-held Imedia Corporation, based in San Francisco, develops and markets products for the cable, satellite and broadcast industries that uniquely solve many of today's digital programming challenges. Using patented algorithms embedded in silicon, Imedia is bringing breakthrough technology, unparalleled performance, and plug and play operability Operability is the ability to keep a system in a functioning and operating condition. In a computing systems environment with multiple systems this includes the ability of products, systems and business processes to work together to accomplish a common task such as finding and to the digital headend environment. Imedia was founded in 1994 by three MIT MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates who, together with their chairman, hold over 40 patents. Note to Editors: StandardPlus is a trademark of Zoran Corporation. CherryPicker is a trademark of Imedia Corporation. All other terms and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners, and are hereby acknowledged. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion