Protocom Technology announces industry's first hard-wired MPEG-4 ASP video SoC overcoming low-bit rate, low power constraints for portable devices

Protocom Technology Corp., an innovator in digital compression semiconductor devices, today announced the industry’s first full-duplex, hard-wired system-on-a-chip (SOC) audio/video solution, the GoldenREEL™ PR818S. The new PR818S overcomes the low-bit rate, low power constraints of portable entertainment products such as digital camcorders, handheld personal video recorders (PVRs) and personal media players. The GoldenREEL PR818S CODEC and GoldenREEL™ PR828 encoder devices provide consumer OEMs full-range motion and higher resolution video for next-generation products. Both the PR818S and PR828 are fabricated in .13 micron process technology and support the MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) standard at up to NTSC/PAL (D1) resolutions. "MPEG-2 compression by definition has limitations in video quality and frame-rates in portable products that result in a generally poor video experience for the user," said Michelle Abraham, senior analyst at InStat/MDR. "The growing expectation for quality digital video display within cell phones, personal media players and other mobile products will benefit from the introduction of Protocom's hard-wired implementation of MPEG-4 ASP video compression solution. The Protocom solution will help meet the users' insatiable desire for 'ultra'-small form factor products. This will open the door to a host of new video-centric consumer products."

Protocom’s GoldenREEL PR818S is optimized and designed to serve market applications requiring real-time compression, while ensuring exceptional video quality. The GoldenREEL PR818S is the industry’s first single-chip full-duplex, hard-wired MPEG-4 silicon CODEC with Advanced Simple Profile (ASP). The PR818S supports full frame rates of 30 frames-per-second with up to D1 resolution, ADPCM audio and full transcoding capabilities to and from MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 (as well as other transcoding options.) Protocom’s MPEG-4 ASP solution is a significant advancement over current MPEG-4 Simple Profile (SP) solutions now on the market. The integrated ARM922T™ core within the PR818S eliminates the need for a system host processor and provides system flexibility via firmware supporting various audio formats such as MP3, AAC and WMA.

In addition to the PR818S CODEC, which is designed for use in DVRs, PVRs and Video/Voice over IP (V2oIP), Protocom is announcing the GoldenREEL PR828 encoder-only device. The PR828 is designed for applications such as security/wireless and IP cameras. The PR828 provides a hard-wired encoder that is ideal for products where PC/host decoding is preferred.

“Protocom’s focus and proven talent in the area of complex digital media compression has put us on the forefront of introducing Quality Motion Video (QMV) to wireless, communications and other digital entertainment markets,” said Isaac van Kempen, vice president of marketing at Protocom Technology. “Tier-one OEMs must meet aggressive performance and quality standards to be a dominant market player. We believe the GoldenREEL PR818S and PR828 will enable Protocom’s customer OEMs to bring to market some of the most advanced and enriched video-capable products the consumer has yet to experience.”

Pricing and Availability

The Protocom GoldenREEL PR818S and PR828 are both immediately available. The Protocom GoldenREEL PR818S full CODEC is priced at $22 for quantities of 100,000 and the Protocom GoldenREEL PR828 encoder is priced at $19 in quantities of 100,000. Protocom also offers a universal engineering development platform, EMERGE™, that is based on the GoldenREEL PR818S and provides the OEM developer significant savings in time-to-market and product creation.

About Protocom Technology

Protocom Technology is an innovator in digital compression semiconductor devices. The company offers the industry’s only full-duplex, hard-wired MPEG-4 ASP (Advanced Simple Profile) system-on-a-chip solution for the highest quality video for portable devices. Protocom’s GoldenREEL™ family of silicon CODECs optimizes full-range Quality Motion Video, while overcoming the low-bit rate and low power constraints required by such ultra-small-form-factor products as digital camcorders, IP cameras, handheld personal video recorders (PVRs) and personal media players. The product also has applications in the consumer electronics and the industrial security/surveillance markets. The company is currently developing hard-wired products that include SMPTE-VC1 (WMV9) and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression technologies.

Protocom is located in Cupertino, Calif. For further information please visit www.protocomtech.com or call (408) 343-0976. # # #