Broadcom Announces H.264 (MPEG-4) Compression Chip

Broadcom announced an advanced video decoder/audio processor chip that supports H.264 advanced video compression technology, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10/Advanced Video Coding (AVC). The new Broadcom BCM7411 video processor chip, which is the company's third- generation silicon implementation to support the H.264 video compression specification, could be used to significantly reduce the bandwidth required to deliver high definition (HD) and digital video content services or to store HD media on conventional DVDs and system hard disks. Applications could include high definition DVD players, next-generation satellite and cable set-top boxes, personal video recording (PVR) products and IP set-top boxes.



The device's video decoder can operate as a single-channel HD decoder or a dual-channel SD decoder, and supports H.264, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video decoding. The device is the first to support the H.264 High Profile specification, which incorporates advanced compression tools such as 8 x 8 transforms and dynamic quantization matrices. The programmable audio processor in the BCM7411 incorporates a multi-standard audio decoder core, supporting MPEG-4 high-efficiency AAC (AAC+), MPEG-4 AAC (ACC-LC), Dolby) Digital Plus (Enhanced AC3), Dolby Digital (AC3), MPEG-1 Layer I, II, III (MP3) and pulse code modulation (PCM). The audio decoder also supports compressed audio pass-thru to a Sony/Philips digital interface out and PCM audio mixing. The BCM7411 incorporates a video post processor as well. http://www.broadcom.com