TMCnet News
Chrontel Offers TV Encoder for Handheld Consumer Products; New Video Interface Chip Provides Popular TV-Out Capability for Mobile Telephone Handsets, PDAs and Portable Media PlayersSAN JOSE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Jan. 17, 2006 -- Chrontel (www.chrontel.com), a leading provider of video interface technologies, announced a new TV encoder IC specifically targeted at handheld systems. The CH7023 enables mobile telephone handsets, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and portable media players to output video directly to a conventional NTSC or PAL television. The new CH7023 can be found in mobile phone reference designs by graphics chip maker NVIDIA, whose customers include leading mobile phone and PDA manufacturers worldwide. "Products based on the NVIDIA GoForce(TM) platform offer consumers a visually stunning multimedia and 3D experience," explained John Milner, NVIDIA's Director of Wireless Media Processor Sales. "The TV-out feature allows consumers to share that visual experience by simply connecting their cell phone or handheld to any TV set. The versatility of the Chrontel TV encoder enables us to offer TV-out capability across our entire GoForce(TM) product line, making it a feature available to the whole market rather than just the high end segment." TV encoders are mixed-signal ICs that convert digital graphic data produced by a handheld processor IC into analog video data that can be displayed on any NTSC or PAL television. The CH7023 accepts digital input resolutions from 220x176 pixels up to 720x576 pixels, and 8, 12, 15, 16, 18 or 24-bit digital RGB or YCrCb data input. With integrated dual 10-bit high-speed DACs, the CH7023 can drive either CVBS or S-Video analog outputs. The Chrontel device also incorporates Macrovision(TM) copy protection, up/down pixel-by-pixel display scaling, programmable power management and adjustable brightness, contrast, hue and saturation control. To meet the unique requirements of handheld systems, the CH7023 can accommodate almost any input display LCD data rate, supporting pixel clock frequencies from 2MHz up to 64MHz. The device consumes just 70mA, and supports low-power and long battery life with flexible I/O voltages of 1.2V to 3.3V. Chrontel is one of the leading providers of TV-encoder ICs, enabling the TV-Out functionality on millions of computers sold annually by many of the world's most recognized PC brands. The rapidly falling price of miniature hard-disk drives, silicon memory and video compression and decompression technology is now accelerating the migration of image capture, video gaming, video playback and other popular video applications from PCs to handheld systems. With its new CH7023, Chrontel is leveraging years of experience with high-volume, PC-based video interface applications to bring cost-effective, high-performance TV encoder technology to the handheld market. "Chrontel's new TV encoder enables a wide range of exciting handheld capabilities. Imagine plugging your PDA into a conference room television to give a presentation, playing a mobile phone video game on your friend's TV, or watching a movie stored on a portable media player on any regular television," said Dr. David Soo, Chrontel president and CEO. "Using Chrontel's TV encoder to add a TV-Out feature to a handheld device can make all of these scenarios a reality." Pricing and Availability The Chrontel CH7023 will be sampling in Q1'06, and production volumes will be available in early Q2'06. The device is offered in a flexible 49-pin BGA package and 48-pin LQFP package. The CH7023 is priced at $3.25 for the BGA package, and $3.00 for the LQFP package, both in 10,000 piece quantities. Additional information about all Chrontel products can be found on the web at http://www.chrontel.com/products. About Chrontel, Inc. Founded in 1986, privately-held Chrontel is a leading supplier of video interface ICs and technologies to computer manufacturers worldwide. The company's innovations include the world's first VGA-to-TV encoder. Chrontel video display chips are incorporated into reference designs offered by many microprocessor and graphics processor vendors. The company currently offers the industry's most complete product line of video interface ICs for notebook and desktop computers, and its components can be found in PCs sold by dozens of leading manufacturers. Additional information about Chrontel can be found on its website: www.chrontel.com. All trademarks and registration marks are the properties of their respective owners. |
