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, 2007 -- 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.

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® 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 .