They haven’t pinned the tail on the donkey yet, so to speak, but with the digital home entertainment market at stake, Google and collective technology development partners continue to refine Google and enhance the Google TV platform. Early last month, fabless chip designer Marvell Technology Group announced that its ARMADA 1500 HD Media System-on-a Chip (SoC) and Foresight Platform has been designed into the next generation of Google TV.
The RISC-based ARM ARMADA Media SoC and Foresight Platform is designed to deliver 3D video, rich audio, 3D graphics and TV-friendly Web content, according to a Marvell press release.
“Marvell and Google are fundamentally changing the relationship between the producers and consumers of content – from Hollywood to Madison Avenue to publishing and major news networks – creating a dynamic, two-way experience featuring real-time global news, social network, entertainment and information,” Marvell co-founder Weili Dai touted.
“I believe this is a major breakthrough movement and it’s just the beginning of our bigger vision. The same forces that are revolutionizing today’s television experience will transform numerous vertical applications for small businesses and large enterprises, enhancing the way we all work, connect with each other and collaborate globally.”
The ARMADA 1500 media SoC is equipped with Marvell’s ARM v6/7-compatible PJ4B SMP super-scalar dual-core CPU. According to Marvell, the CPU is designed to enable PC-like processing power that supports Web browsing with Flash and other key Web technologies. In terms of processing power, it has 6000 Dhrystone MIPS of horsepower; FPU (Floating Point Unit) v3.0, 512KB of L2 cache; and WMMX2 for enhanced video and graphics processing. Marvell also highlights its energy efficiency and advanced cellphone-like power management features.
The 1500 media SoC also comes with Marvell’s Qdeo video processing technology for HD and 3D video, including scaling, noise reduction, de-interfacing, low bit-rate Internet video enhancement and FRC color/contrast enhancement. Also built-in is VMeta, a multi-format video decoder/encoder/transcoder capable of decoding two simultaneous 1080p streams, as well as other video formats and containers.
For more on the ARMADA 1500, click here.
