WISchip Launches Networked Personal Video Recorder and IP Camera Reference Designs

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-- Sept. 8, 2005 -- WISchip International Ltd., a global provider of digital video and audio semiconductor solutions, today announced two new "turnkey" reference designs that will enable system designers to quickly bring to market next-generation network personal video recorders (PVRs) and IP Cameras based on WISchip's Cypher 7108 multi-format streaming media encoder System-on-Chip (SoC).

"Our Network PVR reference design offers a comprehensive toolkit for rapidly developing a new class of PVR for the digital home that will enable system houses to maximize their average sales prices (ASPs) because of its low-cost, turnkey design," said Jim Nguyen, director of marketing with WISchip. "We're seeing pent up demand for audio/video storage and distribution solutions for the digital home, and our network PVR reference design addresses this demand head on."

Network PVR Reference Design Detail

The WISchip Cypher 7108 Network PVR reference design is a small form-factor, fanless development kit for an audio/video capture, storage and streaming consumer electronics device that can serve as a digital "filling station" for personal media players. Because WISchip's Cypher 7108 SoC supports a broad range of integrated audio/video I/O interfaces, multiple consumer electronics playback devices can connect directly to this PVR design and access the locally captured content via a wired or wireless IP network.

Accessing digital content stored on a WISchip-based system is extremely easy because the reference design supports uPnP and Rendezvous for instant configuration.

Leveraging existing wired or wireless IP networks in the home for centralized audio/video content distribution from a single platform, the new network PVR reference design provides an extensive range of tools in support of the MPEG-4/2/1 video encoding format to deliver full D1 (720x480) video quality. Wireless IP home networks will benefit from the Cypher 7108's MPEG-4 encoding because it provides DVD image quality at the rate of 2 Mbps, which is half the bandwidth required by the MPEG-2 encoding format.

IP Camera Reference Design Details

The WISchip Cypher 7108 IP Camera reference design can be used to develop a standalone network IP camera that leverages WISchip's multi-format video encoding capabilities to stream real time video over the web. This versatile design supports LAN, cable, DSL or wireless connections and can be configured with a static or DHCP IP address. Powered by Linux to run a web server internally, the IP Camera design enables video to be viewed on Windows®, UNIX®, Linux® and Macintosh OS X platforms.

"WISchip's IP Camera software development kit (SDK) provides us with a distinct first mover advantage in bringing a standalone network IP camera to market quickly in order to capitalize on growing worldwide demand," said Dieter Schramm, head of camera development with Dallmeier Electronic. "The Cypher 7108's multiformat video encoding capabilities are especially important to this reference design since we can now bring product to market that supports multiple flavors of MPEG."

WISchip Platform Technical Details

At the core of each new reference design is WISchip's Cypher 7108 system-on-chip streaming media encoder. Based on advanced hardware compression technology, the Cypher 7108 supports a broad range of audio and video encoding formats including MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (without GMC), MPEG-2/1, Motion JPEG, and H.263. Cypher can support video encoding at 720x480 resolution. Audio encoding formats include two-channel Dolby Digital (AC-3) up to 448 Kbps, and MPEG-1/2 layer I &II.

The new reference designs feature an integrated 166Mhz MIPS CU and provides a SATA hard disk connector, USB 2.0 OTG, and mini-PCI connector system interfaces all contained within a three-and-a-half inch hard disk form factor. Two 10/100 Base T Ethernet connectors and wireless (802.11a/b/g via a mini-PCI card network I/Os are supplied.

Based on a third-generation encoding architecture, the Cypher 7108 features two-pass encoding with a MIPS(TM)32-bit CPU. It also features a 32-bit DDR SDRAM memory interface as well as direct connections for ATAPI, Ethernet MAC, PCI 2.2, Host Parallel Interface (HPI), USB 2.0 (OTG), I2C and I2S.

In addition to its advanced audio video compression technologies, the Cypher 7108 features a USB 2.0 OTG device controller, 10/100 Ethernet MAC, an ATA controller, PCI master/client bus, a card bus controller and a transport stream output interface. It also supplies advanced scene change detection and features de-noise filters, a video preview engine, seamless A/V synchronization and video source error-handling capabilities.

Availability

General availability for the Network PVR and IP Camera reference designs is September, 2005.

About WISchip International

WISchip International is a global provider of digital video and audio semiconductor solutions that enable new classes of powerful multimedia products. The company's portfolio of high-performance, low-power standalone and system-on-chip integrated circuits incorporate next-generation standards that enable system developers to quickly bring leading-edge products to market. Patented WISchip technology maximizes digital video and audio quality in a wide range of end-user computing, surveillance, and electronic entertainment products. WISchip International offices are located in Santa Clara, California, with operations, distribution partners, and strategic alliance partners in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.wischip.com.

NOTE: WISchip is a registered trademark of WISchip International. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.