Product category:
Reference Designs
News Release from: Analog Devices | Subject: Blackfin eMedia Platform
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 30 January 2004
Microsoft designs Blackfin into set-top
products
The Blackfin processor manages the Windows Media audio/video decode processing in the new Microsoft Windows Media centre Extender set-top products.
Following Bill Gates' first public demonstration of Microsoft Windows Media centre Extender Technology - a powerful media adapter that will enable consumers to access their favourite digital entertainment that resides on their Windows XP Media centre Edition PC, from any room in the home regardless of where the PC is located - Analog Devices has revealed that its Blackfin processor manages the Windows Media audio/video decode processing in the new Media centre Extender set-top products Having been selected by Microsoft, ADI's Blackfin processor is part of the standard design that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) will use to bring Windows Media centre Extender Technology to market in hardware designs that include set-top boxes and Media centre-ready televisions
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 2 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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As part of Windows Media centre Extender Technology, ADI's Blackfin processor processes high-quality streams of Windows Media Video and Audio 9 Series content.
The software-programmable Blackfin microarchitecture delivers the media-processing performance, multiformat flexibility, fast time to market, and consumer price point necessary to support Microsoft's vision of extending high-quality digital entertainment to any screen in the house.
"Blackfin provides the most effective and inexpensive way to add high-quality Windows Media Audio and Video to our Media centre Edition Extender set-top products", said Tom Laemmel, Windows eHome Product Manager, Microsoft Corp.
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"This lets us continue to delight our Media centre Edition customers by providing the best entertainment experience possible on their PC or throughout the home".
"We are honoured that Microsoft has chosen Blackfin to meet the intensive demands of delivering high-performance streaming audio and video for the Windows Media centre Extender Technology products that will be introduced by top consumer OEMs and ODMs later this year", said John Croteau, General Manager, Media Platforms and Services Group, Analog Devices.
"This announcement brings into focus specifically how software, rather than hardware, is enabling the rapid introduction of media-rich, networked entertainment devices.
And because it is one-third the price and less than one-third the power of competing software-based media processors, Blackfin is uniquely positioned to meet the requirements of mass-market consumer electronics applications".
More specifically, Microsoft has opted for ADI's Blackfin eMedia Platform, ADSP-BF532eM10, which combines the programmable Blackfin processor with the software algorithms and interfaces to encode/decode today's leading audio/video standards.
By handling native decoding of Windows Media 9 Series video and audio for the Media centre Extender design, the Blackfin eMedia Platform supports the best consumer experience by avoiding the degradation in quality and the latencies that occur with transcoding.
The Windows Media centre Extender design relies on the Blackfin eMedia Platform to decode Windows Media Video 9 Series content, delivering D1-resolution video streams at 30 frames per second; the Blackfin platform likewise performs stereo audio decoding of Windows Media Audio 9 Series and MP3 streams.
The Blackfin eMedia Platform also supports decoding of other popular media formats commonly used by PC-based systems.
Because media decoding/encoding is fully software-based, the Blackfin processor empowers developers to add or upgrade media support by making software - not hardware - modifications.
This software programmability speeds time-to-market and reduces costs without increasing chip size - a significant advantage over less-flexible ASIC processors which require hardware modifications to alter device functionality.
Media centre Extender Technology will enable the distribution of rich digital content and experiences that reside on a Windows Media centre PC to television displays in any room in the home.
Alienware Corp, Dell, Gateway, HP, Samsung Electronics Co, Tatung Co and Wistron Corp are among the industry-leading OEMs and ODMs working with Microsoft to bring these products to market in a variety of hardware form factors, including set-top boxes and televisions, by the 2004 holiday season.
Consumers can enjoy the benefits of Media centre Extender Technology through a set-top box connected to their television or can purchase a new television with this technology fully integrated.
The Blackfin processor is the first in a new class of embedded processors designed specifically to meet the computational demands and power constraints of today's embedded audio, video and communications applications.
Based on the Micro Signal Architecture (MSA) jointly developed with Intel Corp, ADI's Blackfin processor family combines a 32bit RISC-like instruction set with 16bit dual multiply accumulate (MAC) signal processing functionality and ease-of-use attributes found in general-purpose microcontrollers.
Dynamic power management enables breakthrough power consumption by allowing the simultaneous adjustment of operating frequency and voltage under application control.
Because they are code-compatible, all Blackfin processors provide portability of design.
In addition, Blackfin processors are fully supported by ADI's integrated software development tool chain, the VisualDSP++ integrated development environment (IDE), and by Green Hills' Multi IDE tool suite.
Consumer price points are supported by the attractive pricing of the Blackfin eMedia Platform, ADSP-BF532eM10, which provides outstanding functionality and value at $11.95 per unit in 100,000-unit quantities.
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