audio/videoZONE Products for the week of August 11, 2003
LSI Logic Says . . .
ZiVA-6: Integrated SACD And New Features For Volume
DVD Players
LSI Logic Corporation, a leader in multimedia processing for the Digital Home, announced that it is addressing the needs of the high-volume DVD playback market with its newest products, the single-chip LSI Logic ZiVA-6 DVD player family of system processors. Based on a market-proven architecture that has shipped in tens of millions of DVD players to date, the sixth-generation ZiVA-6 family consists of fully integrated system processors that include the MPEG processing and front-end servo logic for a cost-effective DVD player solution. The ZiVA-6 family supports emerging DVD features, such as SACD (Super Audio CD) playback and a PCMCIA interface for wireless connectivity or Flash media support, bringing new content into one device in the living room. To reduce manufacturers' risk and time-to-market, LSI Logic offers the ZiVA-6 family as part of a complete manufacturing kit (ZiVA-6MK).
"Manufacturers are taking a tiered approach to the market, so we are addressing both the sub-$50 volume DVD players and the step-up models with the ZiVA-6 family," said Timothy Vehling, senior director of marketing for Consumer Products, LSI Logic's Broadband Entertainment Division. "By integrating SACD and other features in a single chip we're empowering manufacturers to cost-effectively bring these features to the volume market. And, our manufacturing kit makes it easier for consumer electronics manufacturers to get to market faster with full-featured products."
To differentiate DVD products, the ZiVA-6 family provides features for standard DVD players, DVD home theatre in a box (HTiB) and new, networked digital DVD devices. The ZiVA-6 processor family supports the latest in high-quality audio content, including DVD-Audio and SACDs. With thousands of titles now available, SACD-supported by Philips Electronics and Sony-is increasing in number of titles and popularity because it gives consumers exceptional sound quality that accommodates more than four times the information of the current CD format. The integrated SACD support and direct S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) input, combined with ZiVA-6-supported audio formats (DVD-Audio, MPEG-1, MP3, Dolby Digital, Dolby ProLogic, DTS, HDCD and WMA), gives manufacturers the ideal solution for DVD HTiB. Karaoke and Phantom Surround sound are also available through the ZiVA-6 family of processors.
For networked digital DVD products, the ZiVA-6 family integrates a PCMCIA interface that enables personal digital content, such as JPEG photos and MP3 files, to be shared with the DVD player via Flash media or an 802.11 wireless connection. With these features, consumers can obtain content directly from their digital cameras or wirelessly from their home PC to enjoy in the comfort of their living rooms. In addition, ZiVA-6 provides the highest quality progressive scan for a clearer viewing experience with its TrueScan technology.
"In the DVD playback market, which ships millions of units each
year, manufacturers are challenged to get to market quickly with new lower-cost
designs and to provide differentiated products with new features at a higher
price," said Michelle Abraham, In-Stat/MDR. "With the ZiVA-6 family,
LSI Logic has made a cost-effective, flexible design that meets these volume-market
and differentiated product needs."
analogZONE Says...
The growth of the DVD market has got to be the fastest in the history of electronics, and the result for the consumer is the fight between OEMs to supply the most features at prices lower than their competitors -- which has reduced unit prices from $1000 down to $100 in just three years. The addition of features, such as SACD and DVD-Audio, are essential to follow the trends that are out there, although a consumer myself I don't know whether I will be ready to give up my library of CDs just yet in favor of other formats.
LSI Logic has really produced a system chip here with the ZiVA-6. It requires the addition of a motor drive/control IC, a pick-up amplifier, front panel electronics and 64 to 128 Mbit of SDRAM and 8 to 16 Mbit of FLASH -- and that's it, add power and a box and you have a DVD player that will output composite and S-video in both PAL and NTSC, GBR, SCART, YPbPr, (all in 576I and 480I, or 576P and 480P), and CCIR 656/601. CSS and Macrovision 7.1 protection are included and the decoding standards of both MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 allow for decoding of a catalog of formats: DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD-R/+RW, DVD-VR, Video CD, JPEG, Kodak Picture CD, S-VCD (Chaoji). The progressive scan signals are provided by LSI's TrueScan de-interlace which works very effectively.
The audio side gives out analog, PCM, and S/PDIF with MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 (Layers I, II and III), SACD, Dolby Digital and ProLogic, DTS, CD-DA, DVD-A, HDCD, and WMA decoding standards. watermark detection is provided with CPRM (content protection for recording media), and PSP-PDM (Pit signal processing - Physical Disc Mark) for SACD, and CPPM (content protection for pre-recorded media) for DVD-A.
The complete manufacturing kit provided by LSI Logic should allow an OEM to get into the next-generation of DVD players extremely quickly with a BOM that is likely to be between $25 and $30. The first OEMs to get there will reap the maximum benefits, of course, but also holding back features, to allow their later appearance as the market needs, will be an art that will be practiced.
The ZiVA-6 uses 1.8 V for the RISC core with a 3.3-V I/O (tolerant up to 5 V). No power consumption is quoted in the product brief.
The ZiVA-6 is sampling now in either a PQFP-208 or a PQFP-256 and will be priced at less than $10 in production volumes.