MultimediaProcessor
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Broadcom announces 1080p camera phone chip, single-chip Blu-ray decoder
Broadcom's busting out some big muscle on the video chip front today, launching both a 1080p smartphone camera chip and a single-chip Blu-ray player chip. The BCM2763 mobile phone chip supports full 1080p video recording and playback, as well as 20 megapixel stills with face / smile detection and image stabilization. There's also support for 3D gaming at 1080p, and HDMI support is included so you can plug into a TV and actually see all those pixels -- and a 20-to-50 percent reduction in power usage means you'll be able to play video over HDMI for "up to 16 hours," although we'd like to see that claim tested in a real handset before we totally buy it. Broadcom's also hyping its new BCM7630 single-chip Blu-ray solution, which offers BD decoding and support for streaming apps like Netflix, Pandora, Vudu and CinemaNow all on a single chip -- and manufacturers can combine it with the new BCM7632 for 3d-Blu-ray support. Single-chip means cheaper Blu-ray decks -- so sure, we'll take it. No word on when any of these chippies are going to end up in production hardware, but we're hoping to hear more about that at CES.
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.
