Horizon Semiconductors Unveils Industry's First True 1080/60p Universal System-On-A-Chip Solution for Next Generation HD-DVD and Blu-Ray(TM) Media Players/Recorders

    HERZLIYA, Israel, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Horizon Semiconductors, a
 leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable secure
 video and audio compression & transmission for the consumer electronics and
 home entertainment markets, has announced the immediate availability of the
 industry's first universal System-On-a-Chip solution enabling dual channel
 true 1080/60p decoding for next generation media players/recorders
 supporting the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray(TM) optical disc formats, as well as
 legacy red laser DVD format.
     (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070912/HORIZONLOGO )
     Horizon's Hz7220 HD-DVD/Blu-Ray SoC supports wide range of features and
 capabilities including conformance to leading video compression standards
 such as high-definition 1080/60p profiles of AVC/H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2 and
 DV/HDV, leading audio compression standards such as DTS-HD, Dolby Digital
 Plus and Dolby TrueHD, as well as supporting HD-DVD and Blu-Ray HDi and
 BD-J (BD-Java) interactive technologies. The Hz7220 is provided with a
 comprehensive software stack compliant with both Blu-ray & HD DVD
 specifications, and a reference hardware platform designed to significantly
 accelerate OEM/ODM development cycle.
     "Consumers today are demanding higher standards of digital
 entertainment experiences that enhance the very personal environments of
 their home," said Amir Morad, Horizon's President and CEO. "Today's current
 generation of advanced 60fps STB/DVD products decode 1920x1080 at
 24fps/30fps and subsequently perform frame rate conversion to reach 60fps.
 In contrast, Hz7220 natively supports true 1080/60p decoding and playback,
 and will thus accelerate the deployment of next generation
 players/recorders devices, featuring superb video quality & unparalleled
 viewer's visual experience."
     Product Information
     The Hz7220 is designed with the highest level of integration, embedding
 a variety of cutting edge technologies such as:
     -- Dual channel HD decoding at resolutions up to 1080/60p (1920x1080, 60
        frames/sec) and bit rates of up to 50Mbps per channel, compliant with
        the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray optical disc formats.
     -- Powerful multi stream decoder engine, supporting all mandatory video
        compression standards for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray optical disc formats: H.264
        (AVC) Main and High Profile up to Level 4.2, VC-1 (SMPTE 421M)
        Advanced Profile @ Level 3, MPEG-2 MP@HL, DV/HDV etc.
     -- Advanced display processor enabling multiple plane true color blending
        and HD Picture-in-Picture (PiP), flexible resizing, motion adaptive
        high-definition de-interlacing, and advanced motion-compensated picture
        enhancement.
     -- High definition (1920x1080), powerful 2D and 3D graphics accelerator
        with dedicated high definition sub-picture decoder and font rendering
        engines, supporting all HD-DVD and Blu-Ray graphics modes as well as
        popular graphics standards such as X Windows System and OpenGL.
     -- Still image decoder & Thomson Multimedia's Film Grain Technology (FGT)
        accelerators, compliant with HD-DVD specifications.
     -- Multi-channel multi-format audio encoder, decoder and special audio
        effects processor, supporting all HD-DVD and Blu-Ray standards and
        operational modes such as: Dolby(R) Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DD+ to
        DD conversion, Dolby TrueHD, DTS/DTS-HD, MPEG1 Layer I and II, MP3, HE-
        AAC v2, WMA pro, simultaneous primary and secondary stream
        decoding/encoding in up to 7.1 channels per stream, mixing, down mixing
        and Karaoke.
     -- High performance application CPU with MMU dedicated exclusively for
        running standard operating systems such as Linux or Microsoft Windows-
        CE as well as enabling manufacturer's specific tasks, in addition to a
        dedicated co-processor designed to materially offload the main
        application CPU.
     -- Multi-stream high bandwidth transport processor, designed to process up
        to 7 external streams concurrently, as well as processing
        program/transport streams from DVD, HDD or IP network.
     -- Wide variety of advanced connectivity and peripherals including
        10/100/1G Ethernet, USB 2.0, IDE/ATAPI, SMPTE-292, Flash, I2C, SPI/SSI,
        UART and others.
     -- DVI/HDMI output with integrated HDCP security.
     -- IEEE 1394 (FireWire) with integrated DTCP security supporting direct
        camcorder & digital movie camera content streaming.
     -- IR & UHF Remote control processor supporting IR/UHF keyboard and IR-
        Blaster.
     -- World-class security processor with embedded secure OTP memory,
        enabling complete content protection in strict compliance with the HD-
        DVD/Blu-Ray standards such as AACS and BD+, as well as numerous other
        CA/DRM schemes commonly used in the consumer electronics environment.
     -- Powerful, easy to use API, with the ability to accelerate and off-load
        host application code, as well as comprehensive universal optical disc
        (UOD) software stack supporting legacy & advanced blue laser disk
        profiles.
     "Horizon's Hz7220 single-chip solution represents a significant
 breakthrough in the evolution of universal high-definition DVD players",
 said Leonid Yavits, Horizon's Chief Technology Officer. "Our compelling
 offering that combines native 1080/60p decoding support for both
 high-definition optical formats, along with the integration of powerful
 2D/3D graphics & display processing, sophisticated HDi and BD-Java
 acceleration engines and comprehensive software stack, will allow
 manufacturers to significantly accelerate development & deployment of low
 cost high-definition HD-DVD, Blu- Ray and universal (combo) players and
 recorders."
     To facilitate faster time-to-market for ODMs and OEMs, Horizon is also
 announcing the immediate availability of the HzR7220 reference design kit.
 This fully operational HD-DVD/Blu-ray development system includes software
 support for legacy & advanced blue-laser disk profiles, as well as PCB
 schematics and documentation.
     About Horizon Semiconductors
     Horizon Semiconductors is a leading provider of highly integrated
 silicon solutions that enable secured video and audio compression &
 transmission for the consumer electronics and home entertainment markets.
 Using proprietary technologies and advanced design methodologies, Horizon
 designs, develops and supplies complete system-on-a-chip solutions and
 related hardware and software applications. Horizon's diverse product
 portfolio includes solutions for digital cable, satellite and IPTV Set-top
 boxes, DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players and recorders, HDTV, Digital Video
 Recorders and Home Media Centers.
     Horizon is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, and may be contacted at
 +972-77-2020400 or at http://www.horizonsemi.com .
     Horizon(R), the Horizon logo(R) and Beyond Vision(TM) are trademarks of
 Horizon Semiconductors Ltd., and/or its affiliates in Israel, United States
 and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned are the
 property of their respective owners.
     Contacts:
     Ofer Austerlitz, Director of Marketing, Horizon Semiconductors
     Tel: +972-77-2020400
     Fax: +972-77-2020401
     Email: marketing@horizonsemi.com
 
     Satoshi Konno, Senior Marketing Manager, Horizon Semiconductors
     Tel: +81-3-57716411 (CSK-VC Office)
     Mobile: +81-80-34115664
     Email: marketing.jp@horizonsemi.com
 
 

SOURCE Horizon Semiconductors