Philips Semiconductors, Divio Develop Copy Protecting DV Reference Design

27-Apr-00

Philips Semiconductors announced that it has partnered with Divio, Inc., makers of the single-chip DV codec, to develop a second-generation IEEE1394 digital video (DV) reference design that supports 5C content protection for consumer electronics applications.Philips Semiconductors and Divio developed the reference design in response to the need of content providers such as film studios for digital content protection to prevent unlimited, near-perfect copying of movies and other material, and because of the increased market for DV camcorders, which all feature a IEEE1394 port.The IEEE1394 port in DV camcorders allows high-resolution compressed digital video and uncompressed audio to be sent across a IEEE1394 bus into desktop and notebook personal computers. As a result, new digital consumer applications such as digital VHS, DTV, DVD-RW, plasma displays, set top boxes and video projectors now offer digital video input and output via a IEEE1394 port. Implementing these features requires an integrated IEEE1394 chip set and a powerful, small footprint DV codec.The reference design incorporates Divio's NW701 DV codec and Philips Semiconductors' IEEE1394 chip set, PDI1394L41 audio-video link layer controller with support for 5C content protection and PDI1394P11A 200Mbps physical layer interface (PHY). The link includes an elliptical curve accelerator (patent pending) that allows a great deal of the 5C-authentication process to be handled in hardware, unlike other currently available solutions. Performing authentication in hardware reduces software design time and cost by limiting the load on the controlling processor.Divio's NW701 is the world's first single-chip DV codec, and takes the place of as many as seven dedicated chips. Fully DV-SD compliant and designed with Divio's patented compression technology, it delivers exceptional quality and performance.""The demand for consumer high-end video and PC connectivity is exploding,"" said Devang Patel, Director of Marketing for Divio. ""IEEE1394 and digital video are becoming synonymous and are being widely adopted by consumer electronics companies. Software developers, and ultimately consumers, will benefit from our new reference design kit for high-resolution digital video, which would not have been possible without Philips Semiconductors' IEEE1394 link with 5C content protection.""""Our collaboration with Divio has allowed us to bring customers a complete, easy and consumer-friendly DV-1394 solution,"" said Dave Sroka, IEEE1394 Product Line Manager for Philips Semiconductors. ""This effort demonstrates both the benefits of Philips Semiconductors' IEEE1394 link, and our strength in IEEE1394 audio-video silicon.""IEEE1394 is a high-speed digital serial bus protocol that currently supports data rates up to 400 Mbps. It offers peer-to-peer networking with support for isochronous, ""real time"" data transmission. The 5C Digital Transmission Content Protection specification was developed by Hitachi, Intel, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba to prevent illegal duplication of audio and video content distributed between devices and networks.Pricing And AvailabilityThe reference design, code named ""Daytona Beach,"" will be available in May 2000. There will be two options, an evaluation kit that allows designers to evaluate the components and a manufacturing kit that includes the evaluation board and source code, schematics, layout files etc. For information, contact Divio at 408 732 1205 or sales@divio.com.About Divio, Inc.Divio, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, has been a leader in digital video technology development since its founding in 1995. Pioneering the development of chip-based compression products, Divio develops, markets and manufactures an innovative family of solutions that enable real-time input, capture, manipulation and exchange of digital video data for PC and consumer applications. Divio owns or has filed for patents in algorithm, architecture, and implementation for digital video (DV) and Motion JPEG (MJPEG) compression and decompression schemes, missing pixel interpolation, image processing, constant bit-rate control, and efficient video decoding for PC (eyeball) camera applications. More information about Divio's complete range of products and services is available at its home page at http://www.divio.com.About Philips SemiconductorsPhilips Semiconductors, which has annual revenues of approximately $5 billion, designs and manufactures semiconductors and silicon systems platforms. Philips Semiconductors is spearheading the emerging field of systems on silicon solutions with the innovative Nexperiaô platform and VLSI Velocityô tool set. The company's Sea-of-IPô design methodology allows plug and play intellectual property blocks for easily customizable products. The company is a leader in communications, consumer, PC peripherals and automotive semiconductors, which are key applications for convergence in end-user products. Philips Semiconductors is headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and has operations throughout the world. For more information, visit www.philips.semiconductors.com.

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http://www.philips.semiconductors.com
http://www.divio.com