ViXS Debuts New Series of Companion ICs for High-Speed Transcoding, Encoding and Decoding

XCode™ 3106, 3108 and 3111 set new standards in video processing for Set-top, PC and CE devices

TORONTO — ViXS Systems Inc., the leading developer of video processing solutions, today announced the introduction of a new family of XCode™ Companion ICs: the XCode™ 3106, 3108 and 3111. These Companion ICs can be built into a wide range of video applications including Set-Top Boxes (STB), Consumer Electronics (CE) products and PCs. Key capabilities of the XCode™ 3106, 3108 and 3111 are MPEG2 to AVC transcoding, AVC to MPEG2 reverse transcoding, AVC/MPEG2 decoding and encoding.

The ViXS XCode™ Series of ICs have led the way in the CE, STB and PC markets by being the first – and only – single-chip hardware transcoders shipping in the CE and PC markets with leading manufacturers such as Hitachi, Sony, Dell and NEC. The XCode™ Series is shipped in products such as digital PVR TVs with built-in hard disk drives (HDD), personal video recorders (PVR) to store 500 GB of HD content on a 250 GB HDD, and PC products that convert captured content at high speeds to the Sony PSP, Apple iPOD, iPOD Touch, iPhone and other mobile phone formats.

Availability of the XCode™ family of Companion ICs allows manufacturers the unique opportunity to upgrade existing MPEG2-based products quickly and cost effectively with advanced codec capabilities that require little additional software support. The XCode™ 3000 Companion ICs also allow for highly desired applications to: quickly convert video content for portable devices, manage their own user-generated video content, watch TV remotely, time-shift their favorite TV shows, play YouTube content, distribute video over the internet for place-shifting, and record multiple TV programs simultaneously. The XCode™ 3000 family of Companion ICs line up perfectly with manufacturer’s needs for products such as HD STBs, PVRs, DTVs, Blu-Ray/HD DVD recorders, Media Servers, Remote TV and Network Attached Storage (NAS) products. The Companion ICs, which come in three configurations as XCode™ 3106, 3108, and 3111, offer manufacturers the flexibility of features versus cost. The following is an overview of the features and functionality of the XCode™ 3111 Companion IC:

XCode™ 3111 Features:

• Integrated Peripherals:
  — USB, UARTs, Transport Stream in/out
• Interconnects:
  — PCI, PCIe, and Host Bus Interface (HBI)
  — DDR2
• HD/SD Video Transcoding, Decoding and Encoding:
  — MPEG4 AVC, MPEG4 Part 2, MPEG2, VC1/WM9
  — Bitrate, Resolution and Format Conversion
  — High-speed Transcoding up to 10x real-time
  — Support for iPOD, iPhone, PSP and other portable device formats
• Software Applications:
  — Time-shifting (View and Record)
  — Place-shifting (Remote TV)
  — WebCam
• Fully integrated security:
  — Cable Card, Smart Card and DVB Common Interface (DVB-CI)
  — Multiple Encryption and Decryption Engines (including 3DES and AES)
  — Multiple Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes support

Security and Content Protection

To ensure video content remains protected and that proper conditional access is maintained, the XCode™ Companion ICs provide a full range of features including integrated CableCard, CAM/CI, and Smart Card interfaces, multiple encryption and decryption engines (including 3DES and AES) and support for multiple DRM schemes such as Windows Media DRM 10 and DTCP-IP. As content owners and distributors become increasingly concerned with protection of their content, XCode™ Companion ICs are ready to assist manufacturers as they develop home video products that can securely decode, encode and transcode protected video content while still maintaining full content protection and Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Commenting on the XCode™ 3106/3108/3111 Companion ICs, Sally Daub, President and CEO of ViXS Systems, said: “The XCode™ Companion chips are the right choice for customers who need a cost-efficient solution for their small form factor, low power or standalone products. Building the XCode™ Companion chip into their designs allows them to do multiple transcoding operations and save on other components that are usually necessary, while still maintaining high video quality and security.”

ViXS will demonstrate the new XCode™ Companion chip, and other technology and solutions at CES 2008 from January 7 to 10, 2008. ViXS will be in Room 36163 of South Hall 4 in the Las Vegas Convention Center.