Out in Front: January 4, 1996
Chips and Technologies’ new series of video/graphics controllers brings full-motion video to notebook computers. The HiQVideo 64-bit controllers provide full-screen video at 30 frames/sec for multimedia presentations, videoconferencing, games, and other applications. The HiQVideo controllers meet the needs of Windows 95 by combining video acceleration, zoom, filtering, 64-bit bit-block line-transfer (Bit-BLT) operation, and support for 1024×768-pixel resolution at 75-Hz refresh rates.
The controllers have a video-capture port that accepts 4:2:2 YUV or RGB data and retimes and converts the data to 24-bit-per-pixel RGB data. The port captures video and merges odd and even fields into progressively scanned frames. Onboard circuits scale the incoming video data stream into SIF (352×240-pixel) resolution and stores the data in a frame buffer.
The combination of the video port and PCI bus allows the simultaneous display of video streams from multiple sources. The video port captures one video source, and the PCI bus provides additional video streams. This operation enables you to open multiple video windows and to overlap a menu onto video windows. The zoom-video port lets you stream video without interrupting notebook systems. An extension to the PCMCIA standard, the port eliminates the need to send video or audio data through the CPU or system bus. The HiQVideo series supports the zoom-video port, allowing video to stream directly from the PCMCIA socket adapter to the graphics controller and video frame buffer.
To offload CPU processing for software MPEG applications, the company’s HiQVideo controller integrates a 64-bit Bit-BLT engine and a YUV-to-RGB converter. Horizontal and vertical interpolation and scaling smooth edges to minimize graininess and enhance display quality.
The first two products of the HiQVideo series are the HiQV32 and HiQV64. The HiQV32 comes in 208-pin PQFP and is pin-compatible with its predecessors, the 65548 and 65545 graphics-display controllers. Price is $35 (10,000). The HiQV64 comes in a ball-grid-array package and adds a 64-bit memory interface and support for 4 Mbytes of memory. It costs $40 (10,000).
- - by John Gallant
Chips and Technologies Inc, San Jose, CA. (408) 434-0600