One of my friends is the software manager for our Set-Top group, so I thought I'd do a little horn-tooting and link out to some info some of you guys might find rather cool.

The first release of our Xilleon is pretty capable and (can be) a real linux-powered workhorse.

http://www.ati.com/na/pages/technology/hardware/set_top_box/xilleon220_brochure.html

If anyone is interested in designing the next portable super-player (or Replay/Tivo type device), this chip could make a great core. It's overkill for many applications, but the cool-factor is incredible.

Additional info can be found in the set-top-specific link (we have a reference design as well as SW/HW SDK available)

Anyway, yes I work for the company, but I'm just posting here because I think the technology is cool and I think this is the right crowd to appreciate it.

Processor
XILLEON™ 220 integrates a high-speed 300 MHz MIPS® RISC Architecture CPU with integrated caches and a memory management unit (MMU). The CPU delivers 390 Dhrystone MIPS. The MMU allows the chip to support most embedded operating systems, including Linux, Windows® CE, and VxWorks.

The chip is capable of running in either “solo” or “peer” modes. In solo mode, the built-in MIPS® CPU runs the target operating system and XILLEON™ 220 is the PCI bus master. In peer mode, an external CPU runs the operating system and XILLEON™ 220 operates as a slave device.

Digital Video
XILLEON™ 220 has been designed from the ground-up to support the processing and time shifting of multiple video streams from multiple tuners. It integrates a powerful microcontroller that is used to manage the demultiplexor and has the flexibility to adapt to all worldwide video packet formats including DVB, ATSC, DSS/DIRECTV®, BSDigital and DVD.

The field-proven MPEG-2 decoder is capable of decoding up to two high-definition video streams, or up to eight standard-definition video streams. The decoder operates independently from the MIPS® CPU and requires no host CPU support. It can use adaptive compression to decode high-definition video in a reduced memory space. In addition to decoding all worldwide broadcast formats, the MPEG-2 decoder is capable of decoding DVD streams and supporting “trick modes” like pause and fast-forward.

Display Engine
XILLEON™ 220 contains a powerful and flexible display engine. Two separate display paths drive two display devices, with different content on each display. For example, the chip can display to a TV and VCR, or to two separate TVs.

Multiple video scalers allow picture-in-picture capability – up to four standard-definition or two high-definition video windows can be individually scaled and displayed on the primary TV output. Scaled graphics can also be alpha-blended on top of video.

XILLEON™ 220 integrates two separate video encoders that support worldwide video standards. Each encoder supports all regional formats including PAL, NTSC and SECAM and all interface formats including composite, S-video, RGB, Component and SCART. A copy-protected DVI interface is also available for connecting to big screen TVs and LCD displays.

Other advanced display features include flicker removal, spatial-temporal adaptive deinterlacing, line doubling, studio quality text, and professional quality video scaling for video-in-a-window applications

2D/3D Graphics
XILLEON™ 220 integrates a fast and feature rich 2D / 3D graphics engine from ATI, a leader in 3D graphics. The hardware 3D engine provides performance not achievable with CPU-based software solutions and can be used for gaming, e-commerce, fades/wipes, and enhanced electronic program guides (EPGs). Unlike other embedded 3D engines, it is compatible with all 3D application programming interfaces (APIs) including Direct3D™, OpenGL®, and BroadcastCL.

Memory
XILLEON™ 220 has an advanced memory. Up to 3 Gigabytes/second of memory bandwidth is available, three or more times the bandwidth of many competing solutions. The high memory bandwidth enables flawless decode of multiple MPEG streams in conjunction with graphics, CPU, and I/O operations.

I/O
XILLEON™ 220 integrates all the I/O ports necessary to build an advanced set-top box, including PCI, USB, EIDE, IR, serial, I2C, I2S, AC-97, LPC, Flexbus, and multiple general-purpose I/Os.



Bruno