Microsoft TV Demo At Western Cable To Showcase Advanced Set-Top Boxes Utilizing iGST's CyberPro5000 Broadband Streaming Media Chip

iGS Technologies, Inc., (iGST) today announced that Microsoft TV demonstrations performed at the Western Cable Show will utilize advanced cable set-top boxes incorporating iGST's CyberPro5000 broadband streaming media chips. The demonstrations, performed using Sigma Design's STB2000 set-top box, will showcase advanced set-top box capabilities like transparency and new Microsoft TV features like TVChat, which leverage the CyberPro5000's hardware alpha blending (tViewô) and direct video pass through (eViewô).""We're very excited to be involved in the first demonstration of transparency and TVChat for Microsoft TV,"" said Mike Raghavan, Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances at iGST. ""The alpha blending and direct video pass through capabilities of our CyberPro5000 streaming media devices hold the key to advanced set-top box features like transparency and enhanced Microsoft TV features like TVChat.""Sigma's STB2000, based on Sigma's REALmagic EM8400 and EM8220 MPEG-2 silicon, enables Microsoft TV to play back crisp, full-screen, full-motion MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and DVD video in a variety of applications, including video on demand, interactive broadcast TV, digital VCR, and DVD entertainment. IGST's CyberPro5000 provides the streaming media processing and blending for multiple streams of broadband video, audio, graphics and interactive Internet web pages.""Advanced features such as transparency and TVChat will bring an exciting new experience to the Microsoft TV platform,"" said Alan Yates, Director of Marketing for Microsoft TV Platforms group. ""Sigma's STB2000, utilizing iGST's CyberPro streaming media technology, provides a powerful option for supporting advanced set-top-box capabilities and facilitating the convergence of Web browsing, WebDVD, interactive digital satellite and cable TV, and MPEG-2-based pay-per-view and video on demand.""Transparency is an advanced STB feature that enables consumers to view Internet web pages, program guides, interactive menus and other background services without obscuring the broadcast video. Unlike standard PIP, in which the picture window for the background image hides a portion of the foreground broadcast image, transparency enables the broadcast image to be blended with the background Internet, menus or other images. This enables consumers to view both images concurrently. The CyberPro5000's hardware alpha blending (tView) capabilities not only make transparency possible, but gives consumers full control over the degree of transparency.Direct video pass through (eViewô) is a CyberPro5000 feature that facilitates broadcast quality video by enabling video images to be output to the screen without first reading to and writing from a frame buffer. Circumventing the frame buffer eliminates the signal degradation caused by down- and up-scaling operations, which are required for frame buffer reads and writes. When multiple video streams are present (i.e., legacy analog video, DVD, and VCR), the CyberPro5000 can select one for video pass through (typically the full-screen image), which bypasses the frame buffer.The CyberPro5000 and CyberPro5300 are the world's highest performance, most highly integrated streaming media processors. Utilized in advanced set-top boxes and information appliances from the world's leading OEM manufacturers, CyberPro processors combine a hardware graphics accelerator (2D for the CyberPro5000; 3D for the CyberPro5300) with a fully-programmable NTSC/PAL TV encoder, a video processor that provides integrated scaling, de-interlacing and time-based correction and an AC97 audio processor. Key features include:- Hardware alpha blending (tView) for advanced transparency effects- Direct video pass through (eView) for enhanced broadcast-quality display- ZeroZ, a technique that boosts performance and reduces frame buffer memory requirements for 3D graphics by enabling Z values to be calculated on the fly without reading or writing to a frame bufferTwo video ports for mixing analog TV with digital TV or PIP- Support for multiple, independently scalable video windows- Macrovision copy protection- A Direct FlexiBusô interface to most major embedded CPUs and compatibility with most major RTOSsAbout IGSTiGS Technologies, Inc., is the leading supplier of high performance, highly-integrated streaming media component solutions for broadband and Internet set-top boxes and Digital TV. iGST has developed strategic alliances with leading CPU and RTOS companies and has major blue chip OEM designs worldwide in these markets.

Company headquarters are located in Santa Clara, California and can be reached at 408 982 8588. IGST Web site: http://www.igst.com.