Single-board DVD-R solution aims for condumer OEMs

Philips is teaming up with BenQ to introduce a DVD-recorder monoboard solution targeted at consumer electronics OEMs to further drive down the costs for DVD video recorders.

Philips is teaming up with BenQ to introduce a DVD-recorder monoboard solution targeted at consumer electronics OEMs to further drive down the costs for DVD video recorders.

Philips already possesses a portfolio of Nexperia DVD-recorder reference designs and recently introduced its highly integrated PNX7200 MPEG-2 codec, which uniquely handles all of the necessary MPEG-2 encoding, decoding and transcoding on a single chip.

This latest collaboration pairs BenQ's industry-leading DVD engines with Philips' proven, compatible and feature-rich MPEG solutions onto a single board to advance the adoption of DVD video recorders into the high-volume market.

As the DVD video recorder market is poised to replace the videocassette recorder market, CE OEMs are seeking reliable, low-cost DVD solutions.

The monoboard produced by BenQ combines the BenQ optical engine, based on the Philips PNX7850 chipset, with the digital board, which includes the recently introduced Philips PNX7200 MPEG-2 codec.

A result of this integration onto a single board is a reduced bill of materials (BoM) cost compared to existing DVD recorder designs.

CE manufacturers not only benefit from the lower costs and smaller form factor, but also the simplicity of sourcing various components.

Lastly, there is an opportunity to improve the reliability and playability of the DVD recorder due to the proven combination of the engine front end and MPEG-2 back end.

"Together, BenQ and Philips share the same goal to drive the rapid adoption of DVD recorders into the mainstream market by supplying our customers with a complete DVD-recorder monoboard", said William Wang, Vice President, BenQ Corp.

"We are excited to join forces with Philips again since Philips' system solutions has been supporting BenQ in its efforts to lead the performance, recording speed, and price point battles in the audio/video and PC optical engine markets".

"Philips is committed to driving down system costs to bring the benefits of digital video recording to everyday consumers through its extensive offerings of industry-proven Nexperia DVD recorder reference designs", said Jeroen Keunen, General Manager, Consumer and Multimedia, Philips Semiconductors.

"By partnering with BenQ, Philips is capitalising on each company's strengths to provide an integrated and robust solution for the booming DVD recorder market, which is a key pillar of Philips' vision of the connected home".

The BenQ DVD video recorder monoboard solution will be demonstrated at the 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (8th-11th January 2004) and will be in volume production in Q2 2004.

Back to top