“What is the future Information technology? What comes after everybody is connected? In my opinion, the next big step is entertainment” Digital Media Players
In the most basic of terms, a Media Player is a box you connect to your TV and Hi-Fi to play digital audio and video files. Intel CE4100 will be embedded into TV’s but it is Sigma Designs and Realtek with their Soc’s and Syabas middleware that have lead the disintegration into consumer DMPs. The formation of a new product and market. From the kiss DP500 to the Popcorn C-200 The first company that launched an consumer living room device, that integrated the best from the PC and the the best from the consumer electronics products, was the small start-up firm Kiss Technology. with their DP500 player. The player integrated new capabilities of playing digital media files on a small media player. The Danish company called K.I.S.S. Technology was the pioneer in this new consumer product category. They launched the DP500 the media player in the fall of 2002, which were able to play the popular online divx video format in a regular Physical DVD player. Later in 2003 they introduced the DP500 the first networked DVD player, that enabled the user to connect the Player to a PC, were the movie files were stored.. Click here for a
complete line up of the Kiss products Traditionally when a consumer wanted to watch a movie, he or she went to the local movie rental store and rented a DVD or blu-ray disc. Or the use of Video on demand form their local cable TV Company was also method of delivery However within the last 10 years some consumers have opted to use the internet as their channel for movies and TV shows. At first is was the illegal download over peer to peer networks where users shared the video that had ripped form a DVD disc. The video formats used in these illegal copies is called, Xvid for SD movies and X.264 in the MKV container for HD movies These user have in many years used their PC for downloading
and watching movies. However this solution have not been
optimal since, the consumes would want to see the movie on large TV and
not on a small computer screen. Therefore many early adopters’
experimented in hooking up their PC to the TV to watch the movies in the
living room. This created some problems. A problem was
of interface control, it is not easy to navigate a computer with a mouse
and keyboard from when you sit in your living room couch, you do not
want to go to the pc all the time to use keyboard or mouse. Media Processors According
to Keith Jack a Media processor is able to run a variety of programs,
and offers a variety of audio/video inputs and outputs, ways to connect
to other things (such as memory, hard drives, tuners, Ethernet, etc.).
For a complete overview, visit KJ Blog.
Media
Processors are found in Media players and handle the OS and the playback
and decoding of media files.
Chipset architecture MIPS
Technologies are today dominating the Media player field, mainly because
Sigma Designs relies on MIPS for thier Key Media Processors. Sigma and Realtek applies a RISC CPU
design from MIPS technologies, where Intel relies on their x86
structure.
Nvidia's Tegra2 is the first ARM Based Chip design to be seen in the Media Player business coming out on the new Boxee Box. Also Asus have annocuned an Media Player runing on a Cortex11 ARM chip by Samsung and a SGX540 GPU by Imagination. The MIPS chip architecture have recently pushed ahead and have ported the Android OS for its chip design. Intel is keen to enter the embedded market and is ferociously luring programmers and producers to choose their embedded SoC platform CE 4100. They have had good luck so far with the CE producers such as Samsung, Sony and Toshiba by CE4100 SoC into Flatscreen TV's. They are also running large adds and E-events on their embedded design structure for consumer electronics . MIPS is often called a more elegant
architecture than x86, because of its easier design structure and low
watt requirements, not to mention low price. It also allows for easier
integration of different chips and technologies to be programmed onto
one System on a Chip boards.
For a more detailed view of Arm vs. MIPS see Forbes.com For a x86 chip design vs RISC (ARM & MIPS) see this lecture Semiconductors firms producing Media Processors Intel, Sigma and Realtek. Intel Embeeded CE Media Processors
[1] (The economist, the digital home sept 21 2005) [2] (The war for the digital home, BusinesWeek jan 23 2006) [3] (The war for the digital home, BusinesWeek jan 23 2006) [4] (The economist, the digital home sept 21 2005) |
The Evolution of the Modern Digital Media Player
Subpages (20):
ARM based Media Processors
Complementors to the media players
Connected TV
Convergence in general
Digital Media Player Association
DVD Blu-ray Physical disc players
Intel Viiv
KISS Media players
litterature
Realtek Semiconductors
Sigma Designs
Software
Sound Technology
Standards for the Digital Home
The need for Inter-firm Collaboration in the emerging industry
Types of Consumer devices that make media digital
Video Streaming and Network Protocols
Video Technology
Who owns who in the Media and CE business
Why Consumers prefer Digital Media Players
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