Texas Instruments Inc. is getting into the process with a new product aimed
at the still-forming home digital-media-networking market.
The chip maker has announced a new digital-signal-processor scheme for
streaming-media devices including next-generation televisions, digital-media
centers, set-top boxes and residential gateways.
It supports applications ranging from high-quality video to audio and
imaging, and it can decode a wide range of media formats.
For video, that includes H.263, M-JPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, WMV,
QuickTime and Divx; JPEG, GIF, TIFF and bitmap for imaging; AAC, ATRAC3, MP3 and
WMA for audio; and AMR, G.723.1, G.726 and G.711 for voice.
The processor also sports a programmable core, so electronics manufacturers
can upgrade it with a software download as new codec standards come along.
TI is betting on the growth of broadband-driven home-multimedia systems and
consumer demand for better systems to manage digital video, audio and graphic
files stored on a variety of devices.
