Broadcom's VideoCore III multimedia processor bringing HD to mobiles

Broadcom's VideoCore III multimedia processor certainly isn't the first of its kind, but if it actually does everything it's said to be capable of, we can count on having "3D gaming and HD functionality" on our future handsets. Apparently, the chip can even "support up to a 12-megapixel camera," and could allow HD recording / playback to take place within a cellphone or PMP. Best of all, all this high-resolution goodness is said to not be a battery hog, which is good news for those carrying along HD films longer than half an hour or so. The processor can also provide "720p HD video encode and decode with H.264 main profile compression at low power levels," and if you're one of the lucky "early access customers," you can phone Broadcom up right now for pricing information on samples.

[blade417 @ Oct 2nd 2007 2:03PM]

and soon enough, you will be able to hook up your ps3/360/wii to your phone

[spamtron @ Oct 2nd 2007 2:14PM]

That's great! Now where is the chip to make my phone NOT drop calls nearly constantly.

[Paul @ Oct 2nd 2007 2:27PM]

Apple Keynote October 3rd 2007 - High Definition Iphone! Upgrade yours today!

[Fruition @ Oct 2nd 2007 3:34PM]

Wow, 3D gaming? You mean like that which the PSP and DS have been doing for, what, two years now?

[Chrisphillers @ Oct 2nd 2007 3:47PM]

or the N95 already has..

[Ahmed Alzayani @ Oct 2nd 2007 4:04PM]

Now if only mobiles have a 300DPI OLED@1280x720@16.7m display, this would be nice.

[MR @ Oct 2nd 2007 4:55PM]

Yay! So with the cell phone batteries that we have, we can watch some HD clips for, what, 3 minutes?

[Chic @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:59AM]

HD - all content can be played, without any format conversion. Screen too small then just connect your phone to an HD tv using HDMI ... yahoo.
Power consumption is extremely low - does your camcorder run for 3hrs continuously? Certainly not H.264 compression.
In general this is an incredible leap in what our phones will do in a year or two... I can't wait :-)

[noah @ Oct 3rd 2007 11:52AM]

I don't understand what the point of 720p on a 3-4 inch screen is. Is that the kind of mobile device being talked about here.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Oct 2nd 2007 3:40PM]

720p recording.

I'd also expect to see this processor in other devices like consumer HD camcorders and point-shoot cameras. Possibly even TiVO/DVR.