System processor paces DVD-player cost reduction, feature-augmentation trends
By Brian Dipert -- EDN, December 11, 2003
DVD player prices have tumbled to less-than-$50 retail levels, and full-featured units with progressive-scan video outputs and compatibility with both DVD-Audio and SACD (Super Audio CD) high-resolution audio formats recently broke through the $200 barrier (see "Upward spiral," EDN, Aug 7, 2003, pg 38). Systems manufacturers, challenged to reduce bill-of-materials costs, consequently pressure their chip suppliers to remove dollars and cents from the platform budget. And chip suppliers predictably turn to the integration capability of advanced deep-submicron-manufacturing processes to combine multiple chips’ functions into one, addressing customers’ price expectations while still turning a profit.
LSI Logic’s ZiVA-6 processor family—priced at as much as $10 (1 million)—builds on the prior-generation ZiVA-5 by including a modular pick-and-choose plethora of added features: S/PDIF receiver, hardware SACD decoder and PCM transcoder, PCMCIA controller, front-end servo logic, and dual-channel audio DACs. Note that to implement a DVD player with six-channel analog output, you’ll still need to add external DACs; copy-protected HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) and IEEE-1394 digital outputs for audio and video will also require separate silicon. The PCMCIA interface, suitable for hookup to removable memory cards containing photos and other data, also delivers sufficient bandwidth for a wireless IEEE-802.11b module. Higher speed 802.11a and 802.11g connections might, depending on protocol and system overhead, require a faster CardBus port.
The company bundles a low-end ZiVA-6 with a loader and motor driver, and relevant documentation and software, to come up with the ready-for-production ZiVA-6MK reference design, which offers a less-than-$30 estimated bill-of-materials cost. Samples of the ZivA-6 processor family will be available by the end of this quarter, LSI Logic claims. The company has scheduled production for early next year.
LSI Logic, 1-408-954-3108, www.lsilogic.com.
