Smartphones, Tablet PCs Targeted

Production of MHL Chips to Begin Early 2011, Silicon Image Says

October 6, 2010 by Mark Seavy|Top News

MAKUHARI, Japan -- Silicon Image is sampling Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) chips with a goal of starting production in early 2011 and spreading them to smartphones and tablet PCs, Products Business Group Vice President Tim Vehling told us in an interview at CEATEC Tuesday. The Sil9244 MHL transmitter, MHL-equipped SiI9381A port processor and SiI9292 MHL-to-HDMI chips, which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC) will make using a 130-nanometer process, will support transfers of uncompressed 1080p/30Hz video and 7.1-channel audio up to 192 kHz via a five-pin connector. Based on an MHL spec approved in June, the chips feature high-bandwidth digital content protection and provide power to the mobile device via the connector.

The final MHL spec in many respects is similar to what Silicon Image first proposed in 2008, but has the backing of a consortium formed in April that includes Nokia, Samsung, Silicon Image, Sony and Toshiba. In addition to founding members, MHL has 11 adopter companies including Fairchild Semiconductor and Hosiden. Since the spec hasn’t been publicly released, Vehling declined comment on how it differed from Silicon Image’s original proposal, but said there were “lower level changes” made in the connector.

While low-power 19-pin HDMI connectors are already in some smartphones, including HTC’s Evo and Motorola’s Droid X, there will be room for both technologies, Vehling said. Silicon Image will continue to market its SiI9024 and SiI9022 lower-power HDMI chips, he said. MHL will likely migrate to smartphones, tablet PCs and digital cameras, while the HDMI Type D and C connectors continue to find a home in notebook PCs “where there is lots of edge space” on the printed circuit board to deploy them, Vehling said. MHL technology is contained in a 3.5x3.5mm chip package, while the HDMI version measures 4x4mm, Silicon Image officials said. The 225 MHZ siI9244 is designed to deliver 2.25 Gbps data transfer speeds and have 60-milliwatt power consumption.

The SiI9381A port processor, which supports four HDMI ports with Silicon Image’s single second InstaPort switching technology, will be the first of many to incorporate MHL technology. MHL can be added to Silicon Image’s port processors, which are in Samsung, Sony and other TVs, at a “pretty small incremental cost” since it can use the same voltage regulators and other components designed for a mini-USB connector, Vehling said. MHL is “something we intend to propagate” across Silicon Image’s port processors, Vehling said. Simultaneously supplying power to a mobile device from a connected TV, MHL can provide up 500 milliamperes at five volts. MHL also has a bus control allowing a connected TV’s remote to operate a mobile device.

Silicon Image also appeared to address criticism that MHL wasn’t compatible with a TV’s existing HDMI connector with the SiI9292 MHL-to-HDMI bridge chip that will target adapters, converter boxes and docking stations. Silicon Image demonstrated at CEATEC last year the SiI9222 MHL transmitter and SiI9290 bridge chips (CED Oct 8 p1). Prior to a spec being set, Silicon originally expected the first cellphone based on its MHL technology to ship in fall 2009 (CED Jan 2/09 p3). “Those were a first take on the technology,” Vehling said. “They were close, but these are the chips compliant with the spec."

Silicon Image has scrapped plans for its LiquidHD networking protocol that was to arrive in products next year (CED Oct 8 p2). LiquidHD was designed to be stored in a TV’s firmware or separate hard drive for automatic detection of products on a network and streaming of content. Silicon Image demonstrated LiquidHD at CEATEC last year running network tying together a TV, Blu-ray player and notebook PC. While Silicon Image is no longer pursuing LiquidHD as a networking protocol, technology connected to it is “still being developed internally,” Vehling said.

CEATEC Notebook

A Blu-ray pavilion returned to the CEATEC show floor for the first time since the format defeated HD DVD. The pavilion contained a small theater showcasing Blu-ray 3D titles. It also touted samples of 100-GB BD XL write-once discs from Maxell, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and TDK.

One highlight of the “eco ideas” on display at the Panasonic booth was a prototype of “networkable Eco Navi appliances” that can tie into the Internet. About 4 million Eco Navi products already are in use, Panasonic said. The company has pledged to plant a new tree somewhere in the world for every Eco Navi product purchased. Its eventual goal is to plant more than 500 million trees in 43 countries, it said. Intelligence and convenience are the hallmarks of Eco Navi appliances, Panasonic said. For example, an Eco Navi washing machine can detect visible and invisible dirt on clothes and scale the energy that’s needed up or down to clean them, it said. It also demonstrated the concept of a home energy management system that provides “total control of the energy that is created, stored and saved at home based on personal lifestyles.” The core of the system is a “smart energy gateway” that controls all the “energy and information within the home” and links to the server of the local utility to monitor and regulate energy use, the company said.

Green mottos were everywhere on the show floor, even if some of the messaging was short on specifics. Nissan, the most prominent exhibitor in the Smart Grid Innovation pavilion, showed a prototype of a “solar tree,” which as part of a 1,000-tree “solar forest” would generate enough electricity to feed 7,000 homes “on a sunny day,” signs said. Each tree would stand 12 meters tall and contain three solar panels that resemble large CDs, they said. The solar panels, which are “always chasing the sun,” would also cut surrounding temperature by spraying mist around the edges, they said. Not far from the Nissan display, Yamaha used its Smart Grid Innovation space to showcase a cloth speaker it calls “Thin Light Flexible.” Developed by the Yamaha R and D Centre, the speaker is only 1 mm thick and weighs less than 400 grams per square meter, Yamaha said. Booth attendants said shipping the speakers would generate far less CO2 than conventional speakers because they're so light and thin.

Health warnings about the dangers of viewing 3D were visible throughout the CEATEC exhibit floor and in publicity materials handed out on the show floor. Toshiba press releases on the glasses-free 3D TVs warned that “some individuals may experience health-related complications when exposed to certain 3D images. Please refrain from viewing 3D content if you get out of sorts.” Advisories posted everywhere outside the Smart Grid 3D Interactive Theater in the Smart Grid Innovation pavilion warned especially against showing 3D to kids under seven. The pavilion was sponsored by two dozen companies and by the Japanese Ministry for Economic Trade and Industry. “Children’s eyesight is still under development under the age of seven,” the advisories read. “Therefore, please check if your children are above six as a guideline when viewing 3D images.”

Mitsubishi is shipping its 75-inch laser-based rear projection TV in Japan for commercial public displays, a company spokesman said. The set, which is sold as a consumer product for $5,999 under the LaserVue brand in the U.S., shipped in Japan in August priced at $8,400-$9,600, the spokesman said. Mitsubishi has so far sold “limited quantities” of the set in Japan where it has been installed in some public displays, said the spokesman, declining to say where it’s being used. Mitsubishi is leaving the door open for consumer sales in Japan, but market here for rear projection TVs is “quite difficult,” the spokesman said. The 1080p-capable laser-based set, which contains a 0.9-inch DLP chip and features 400 nits brightness, “fits more as a public display” in Japan because homes here are smaller than those in the U.S., the spokesman said. Among the applications being considered for the 120 Hz display is in gaming arcades that are popular in Japan, the spokesman said. The set is assembled in Kyoto, Japan, he said.