Sigma Designs Sampling 3D Chip with VXP Technology
Sigma Designs will start volume production of its 3D-capable SMP8910 processor in Q3, capping a year-long effort to integrate VXP technology onto a single IC, Keith Jack, director of product marketing, told us. The new SMP8910, which is sampling with customers, strips out the decoding in the SMP8644 chips used in Blu-ray players and set-top boxes and replaces it with the VXP’s scaling and deinterlacing technology, Jack said. Sigma acquired VXP, which has found a home in front projectors as a standalone GF9452 and GF9454 video processor ICs, when it bought Gennum’s video processor business in 2008.
The new chip features a 1 GHz clock speed, up from the 667 MHZ in the 8644 and is being produced using a 55-nanometer process, company officials said. With the addition of VXP, the 8910 is capable of supporting Skype and over-the-top (OTT) content at the same time, company officials said. It decodes H.264, MVC, RealD, Sensio and TDVision. Sigma originally expected to integrated VXP technology into its chips in 2009 (CED March 18/08 p6). “It took a lot longer than I wanted” to combine Sigma’s video processor with VXP, Jack said. “We had VXP integrated and were readying to tape out” in 2010 when Blu-ray 3D came along, he said. “We started out adding the 3D capability and decided it was going to be one chip that does everything."
The SMP8910 is part of an effort to regain market share in Blu-ray that it lost to Broadcom and others in recent years. Sigma was once a dominant supplier for Blu-ray players with its SMP8633 video processors. While VXP is being integrated in the 8910, it will continue as a standalone IC and new ICs are being developed, said Jack, declining to disclose plans. “We have some work to do on updated versions of the GF9452 and GF9454 and it’s still in the evaluation stages,” Jack said.
Meanwhile, Best Buy is testing sales of Jasco Products’ GE and Schlage Z-Wave products online and in 20-30 stores in the Dallas and Los Angeles markets, said Soren Lorentsen, Z-Wave product marketing director at Sigma. The products incorporate Sigma’s ZM4101 and ZM4102 Z-Wave transmitter and receiver modules, many of which have been included in the 450 Z-Wave products that have been introduced, Lorentsen said. Best Buy on Monday had a selection of 10 Jasco/GE products ranging from wireless lighting on/off controls ($59) to a Z-Wave certified remote for lights and small appliances ($79) and wireless dimmer ($64). In stores, Z-Wave products are being merchandised in a range of locations, including the TV section, Lorentsen said. Z-Wave uses the 908.42 MHz frequency in the U.S. RadioShack also is carrying Z-Wave products including 14 GE and Schlage products on its website Monday. RadioShack’s selection ranges from GE lamp and appliance Z-Wave modules ($14.97) to Schlage’s Link keypad bronze and brass lever door handles ($199). RadioShack and Best Buy officials weren’t available for comment.
Sigma also is sampling its new CG5110 home networking chip based on the new ITU G.hn standard. The chipset, the digital portion of which will be built using a 40-nanometer process, supports four wired home networking standards and is among the first available based on the G.hn standard. G.hn covers transmission of high speed data over coax and phone lines. It’s compatible with the HomePlug AV standard set by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance. The CG5110, which was under development at Coppergate when Sigma acquired the company, incorporates ClearPath technology that’s designed to use phase, neutral and ground lines of a powerline as independent channels that avoid noise and attenuation.
In limiting electrical interference common in some HomePlug products, ClearPath could eventually increase data efficiency for G.hn to 99 percent at 50 Mbps, from 60 percent, said Michael Weissman, Sigma vice president of marketing. G.hn-based bridge products are expected to be available late this year with standalone AV products incorporating the technology in 2012, Sigma officials have said (CED Oct 26 p1). AT&T’s U-verse set-top boxes are equipped with HomePlug technology and are a likely target for G.hn, Weissman said. “If every home can be self installed” with a phone call, “it’s justifiable to move over to G.hn,” Weissman said.