ZiiLABS ZMS-08 offers Cortex A8-powered Full HD and Flash acceleration for netbooks
By Vladislav Savov 
posted Nov 9th 2009 5:41AM
posted Nov 9th 2009 5:41AM
ZiiLABS Introduces ZMS-08: The World's First 1080p Blu-ray Quality Handheld Media Processor
New ZMS-08 StemCell Processor Offers Faster, Lower-Power Single Chip Solution for Full H.264 HD 1080p Video Playback, 720p Video Conferencing, 1080p Encode, OpenGL ES 2.0, X-Fi Audio and 1GHz ARM Cortex Application Acceleration.
Combining advanced ARM technology with its own media processing IP has enabled ZiiLABS to deliver the high performance and low-power consumption required to enable the next leap in the mobile internet revolution The ZMS-08 processor confirms the flexibility and scalability of our architecture and enables our customers to develop richer mobile and connected devices that are four times faster and twice as power efficient as previous solutions Its new capabilities such as Blu-ray quality playback, 720p simultaneous encode and decode of H.264 video, accelerated OpenGL ES 2.0 and rich peripheral integration such as dual USB controllers and HDMI are blurring the boundary between the capabilities of the traditional PC and connected device.
Singapore (Vocus/PRWEB ) November 8, 2009 –- ZiiLABS, a pioneering media processor and platforms company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd. today announced, the ZMS-08, its 3rd generation media-rich applications processor that brings 1080p Blu-ray quality H.264 decode to low-power devices. Delivering more than four times the performance of previous generation devices, the ZMS-08 combines the flexible multi-format media processing capabilities of ZiiLABS' StemCell Computing array with an 1GHz ARM® Cortex™ processor to deliver the low-power, high performance media-rich processing required of next-generation connected devices such as web tablets, netbooks, connected TVs, video conferencing systems and home media hubs.
The ZMS-08 is sampling now to certain customers and is supported by ZiiLABS' optimized Linux-based Android™ and native Plaszma™ operating systems and development platforms.
The ZMS-08's proven StemCell Computing array provides the media processing capabilities to deliver full HD 1080p high-profile H.264 video decode, simultaneous H.264 encode and decode at 720p, 1080p 24fps encode, accelerated OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics at up to 1 Gpixels/sec, 2D processing, compositing, image processing and advanced Xtreme Fidelity™ X-Fi Audio effects. With the low-power ARM Cortex processor running at up to 1GHz, the ZMS-08 is aimed at small form factor devices that enable content currently accessed via the PC to spread to mobile and low-energy devices.
"Combining advanced ARM technology with its own media processing IP has enabled ZiiLABS to deliver the high performance and low-power consumption required to enable the next leap in the mobile internet revolution" said Ian Drew, EVP Marketing, ARM.
"The ZMS-08 processor confirms the flexibility and scalability of our architecture and enables our customers to develop richer mobile and connected devices that are four times faster and twice as power efficient as previous solutions," said Hock Leow, President of ZiiLABS. "Its new capabilities such as Blu-ray quality playback, 720p simultaneous encode and decode of H.264 video, accelerated OpenGL ES 2.0 and rich peripheral integration such as dual USB controllers and HDMI are blurring the boundary between the capabilities of the traditional PC and connected device."
High Quality HD Video Encode and Decode
Full HD video playback at 1080p supporting H.264 High Profile at up to 40Mbps means users can experience Blu-ray quality video playback direct to their 1080p TV utilizing the integrated HDMI controller. Crystal clear 720p H.264 video encode and decode at 30 fps enables users to keep in touch with their friends and colleagues via videoconferencing.
Accelerated 3D Graphics
Support for OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics and 1 Gpixels/sec fill rate enable a new class of user experiences including enhanced user interfaces, PC-like 3D gaming and Adobe® Flash® 10.
Enhanced Audio and Voice
The inclusion of Xtreme Fidelity™ X-Fi audio technology delivers a great sounding audio experience. Crystalizer intelligently restores audio detail lost during file compression and CMSS-3D adds the surround sound experience to headphones and stereo speakers and up-mixes stereo to sound great on surround sound speaker systems. The Smart Volume, Dialogue Enhancer, Acoustic Echo Cancellation, graphic equalizer, microphone beam former and noise reduction modules offer customers a complete portfolio of advanced audio processing that make their products sound better.
ZMS-08 Features
The ZMS-08 flexible StemCell Computing array features 64 fully programmable floating point processing elements that off-load the media processing from the ARM CPU to deliver superior media capabilities coupled with improved application performance. The flexible array architecture enables users to experience the widest range of community generated and commercial content including H.264, Microsoft® WMV9, MPEG2, MPEG4, OpenGL ES and Adobe Flash.
The tightly coupled 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 provides a secure, high performance main CPU that features a 256K L2 cache, NEON™, TrustZone® security technology and 1 GByte addressable RAM.
A wide range of integrated peripheral functions help to reduce system costs, complexity and device footprint. Dual USB 2.0 OTG controllers with PHY and ULPI interfaces provide direct connection to USB hosts, peripherals and high-speed modems. Four HD video processing units support camera and display input and output processing with the integrated HDMI and Analog video encoders supporting HD-TV 1080p output at 60fps. The secure Boot ROM, three SDIO/MMC ports, UARTs, SPI, GPIO and advanced 64-bit and 32-bit memory controller supporting mDDR and DDR2 at up to 333MHz provide the interfaces and memory bandwidth required for today's media rich connected devices.
Availability
The ZMS-08 is sampling to certain customers now and is scheduled for volume shipment in the 1st quarter of 2010. The chip is housed in a 13x13mm, 424-pin FBGA package.
New ZMS-08 StemCell Processor Offers Faster, Lower-Power Single Chip Solution for Full H.264 HD 1080p Video Playback, 720p Video Conferencing, 1080p Encode, OpenGL ES 2.0, X-Fi Audio and 1GHz ARM Cortex Application Acceleration.
Combining advanced ARM technology with its own media processing IP has enabled ZiiLABS to deliver the high performance and low-power consumption required to enable the next leap in the mobile internet revolution The ZMS-08 processor confirms the flexibility and scalability of our architecture and enables our customers to develop richer mobile and connected devices that are four times faster and twice as power efficient as previous solutions Its new capabilities such as Blu-ray quality playback, 720p simultaneous encode and decode of H.264 video, accelerated OpenGL ES 2.0 and rich peripheral integration such as dual USB controllers and HDMI are blurring the boundary between the capabilities of the traditional PC and connected device.
Singapore (Vocus/PRWEB ) November 8, 2009 –- ZiiLABS, a pioneering media processor and platforms company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd. today announced, the ZMS-08, its 3rd generation media-rich applications processor that brings 1080p Blu-ray quality H.264 decode to low-power devices. Delivering more than four times the performance of previous generation devices, the ZMS-08 combines the flexible multi-format media processing capabilities of ZiiLABS' StemCell Computing array with an 1GHz ARM® Cortex™ processor to deliver the low-power, high performance media-rich processing required of next-generation connected devices such as web tablets, netbooks, connected TVs, video conferencing systems and home media hubs.
The ZMS-08 is sampling now to certain customers and is supported by ZiiLABS' optimized Linux-based Android™ and native Plaszma™ operating systems and development platforms.
The ZMS-08's proven StemCell Computing array provides the media processing capabilities to deliver full HD 1080p high-profile H.264 video decode, simultaneous H.264 encode and decode at 720p, 1080p 24fps encode, accelerated OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics at up to 1 Gpixels/sec, 2D processing, compositing, image processing and advanced Xtreme Fidelity™ X-Fi Audio effects. With the low-power ARM Cortex processor running at up to 1GHz, the ZMS-08 is aimed at small form factor devices that enable content currently accessed via the PC to spread to mobile and low-energy devices.
"Combining advanced ARM technology with its own media processing IP has enabled ZiiLABS to deliver the high performance and low-power consumption required to enable the next leap in the mobile internet revolution" said Ian Drew, EVP Marketing, ARM.
"The ZMS-08 processor confirms the flexibility and scalability of our architecture and enables our customers to develop richer mobile and connected devices that are four times faster and twice as power efficient as previous solutions," said Hock Leow, President of ZiiLABS. "Its new capabilities such as Blu-ray quality playback, 720p simultaneous encode and decode of H.264 video, accelerated OpenGL ES 2.0 and rich peripheral integration such as dual USB controllers and HDMI are blurring the boundary between the capabilities of the traditional PC and connected device."
High Quality HD Video Encode and Decode
Full HD video playback at 1080p supporting H.264 High Profile at up to 40Mbps means users can experience Blu-ray quality video playback direct to their 1080p TV utilizing the integrated HDMI controller. Crystal clear 720p H.264 video encode and decode at 30 fps enables users to keep in touch with their friends and colleagues via videoconferencing.
Accelerated 3D Graphics
Support for OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics and 1 Gpixels/sec fill rate enable a new class of user experiences including enhanced user interfaces, PC-like 3D gaming and Adobe® Flash® 10.
Enhanced Audio and Voice
The inclusion of Xtreme Fidelity™ X-Fi audio technology delivers a great sounding audio experience. Crystalizer intelligently restores audio detail lost during file compression and CMSS-3D adds the surround sound experience to headphones and stereo speakers and up-mixes stereo to sound great on surround sound speaker systems. The Smart Volume, Dialogue Enhancer, Acoustic Echo Cancellation, graphic equalizer, microphone beam former and noise reduction modules offer customers a complete portfolio of advanced audio processing that make their products sound better.
ZMS-08 Features
The ZMS-08 flexible StemCell Computing array features 64 fully programmable floating point processing elements that off-load the media processing from the ARM CPU to deliver superior media capabilities coupled with improved application performance. The flexible array architecture enables users to experience the widest range of community generated and commercial content including H.264, Microsoft® WMV9, MPEG2, MPEG4, OpenGL ES and Adobe Flash.
The tightly coupled 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 provides a secure, high performance main CPU that features a 256K L2 cache, NEON™, TrustZone® security technology and 1 GByte addressable RAM.
A wide range of integrated peripheral functions help to reduce system costs, complexity and device footprint. Dual USB 2.0 OTG controllers with PHY and ULPI interfaces provide direct connection to USB hosts, peripherals and high-speed modems. Four HD video processing units support camera and display input and output processing with the integrated HDMI and Analog video encoders supporting HD-TV 1080p output at 60fps. The secure Boot ROM, three SDIO/MMC ports, UARTs, SPI, GPIO and advanced 64-bit and 32-bit memory controller supporting mDDR and DDR2 at up to 333MHz provide the interfaces and memory bandwidth required for today's media rich connected devices.
Availability
The ZMS-08 is sampling to certain customers now and is scheduled for volume shipment in the 1st quarter of 2010. The chip is housed in a 13x13mm, 424-pin FBGA package.
love to see this implemented in cell phones and pmps (zune hd).
I think the fact that they specifically ruled out phones and only mentioned non-phone devices is their way of saying it's too hot/battery intensive/big to go in a phone.
Actually it does mention Smartphones on the description page: http://www.ziilabs.com/products/processors/zms08.aspx
The ZMS-08 is the ideal solution across a broad range of media-rich devices.
* Web Tablets
* Netbooks
* Connected TVs
* Portable Infotainment
* Digital Signnage
--------> * Smartphones
love to see this implemented in cell phones and pmps(zune hd).
(sorry for double posting.)
If backwards compatibility with windows binaries wasn't so important, netbooks would be using this type of chip for the CPU. I guess having them as a secondary processor is the next best thing.
Now we're talking.
Can It run Win 7 ?
it's a arm cortex so it won't
I think I can now use windows 7
i think not
Still waiting on the Egg thingy Mr. Creative & Mrs. Zii.
HD webcam por..... i mean... chat.... communications... thing....
You know what would be better?
A laptop with a powerful CPU instead of all these lame Atom performance fixes (Nvidia GPU accelerated flash, the Zii etc.)
For those of us who value battery life and don't want to pay an arm and a leg, powerful processors in laptops aren't the answer. If you have the money to drop, there are plenty of companies that will put a powerful processor in a laptop. You'll get 2.5 hours of battery life, though.
@Satz
It is the other way around: Windows 7 doesn't run on ARM A8 and it is Microsoft's faults.
Although, I can't imagine why would you need Win 7 to a web tablet for which this processor is intended to. These will run customized Linuxes or possibly Windows CE/Mo.
It's hardly Microsoft's fault - in fact, they've tried multiple times to kill x86, and Alpha combined with the Alpha port of NT actually stood a small chance of doing it... and then DEC got bought by Compaq, and they stopped funding development of the Alpha.
Also, .NET was an attempt to move away from code that was compiled to x86, so that the same binary could run on an x86 machine, an Itanium machine, or an ARM PDA or phone.
I very much doubt that a Cortex A8 would be capable of running Windows 7 well even if it worked at all.
This looks great.
I think if this means a $200 netbook that can do HD then it will sell no matter what OS. As a side benefit it can have OpenOffice and Firefox, so you also get a working computer.
No need to go with a netbook for computer stuff and a PMP for me media stuff.
Dear Engadget,
I thought we agreed to call ARM based laptops "smartbooks"
Thanks
actually, they do explicitely mention "Smartphones" on their product page: http://www.ziilabs.com/products/processors/zms08.aspx
OpenGL ES 2.0? In a netbook? I don't know... netbooks are where you're going to start wanting to run PC OpenGL apps, and OpenGL ES 2.0 isn't necessarily compatible with apps that expect the full OpenGL spec to be supported...
OpenGL ES 2.0 is all about programmability... Perhaps some sort of translation driver could attempt to offer more complete OpenGL support that most Linux apps will expect.
It doesn't give the actual power consumption ...which is a key to possible formats..