Acer Selects Broadcom for HD Media Playback on Select Aspire One Models

The Broadcom® Crystal HD Solution Improves the Netbook User Experience Significantly with Cost-Efficient, Flawless Playback of High Definition Video Content

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Computex 2009 — Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that the Broadcom® Crystal HD solution has been selected by Acer (Taipei: 2353) to provide high quality, high definition (HD) media playback on a new line of affordable mid-range notebook computers. The Aspire One netbooks are smaller than traditional laptops and ideal mobile companions when users are away from their PCs or want to leave their full-size laptops at home. By implementing Broadcom Crystal HD netbook solutions into the Aspire One netbook platform, Acer provides consumers with smooth, high quality playback of 1080p HD video that offers low power consumption and CPU utilization in addition to seamlessly integrating into the Microsoft® Windows XP® environment.

“Since the debut of Aspire One netbooks last year, Acer has continued to explore various sources of technology with the goal of enhancing wireless Internet and entertainment on the road,” said Campbell Kan, Vice President, Mobile Computing Business Unit, Acer Inc. “Broadcom’s Crystal HD solution, designed for high-definition multimedia at home or on the go, enables Acer to address our customers’ desire for a light portable entertainment device.”

To address the growing consumer demand for high definition content playback on low cost netbooks, Broadcom’s Crystal HD Enhanced Media Accelerator (based on the Broadcom BCM70010/BCM70012 HD video decoder chipset) has become the industry choice. Leveraging the company’s widely deployed and field proven HD set-top box and consumer media player technologies, Broadcom’s Crystal HD solutions provide the highest quality video playback of multi-format (VC-1, H.264 and MPEG-2) high definition content for the mainstream PC, UMPC (ultra mobile PC) and MID (mobile Internet device) markets.

“We are pleased that Acer has selected our Crystal HD solution, leveraging our industry leading proven HD video cores,” said Dan Eiref, Vice President & General Manager of Broadcom’s Consumer Electronics Group. “Our Crystal HD solutions deliver exceptional performance and low power consumption in a low cost solution to enable a best-in-class netbook user experience. Additionally, Acer’s adoption of our solutions will help to popularize a rich multimedia experience in the netbook market segment.”

Broadcom’s Crystal HD Enhanced Media Accelerator solutions are available in add-in card formats that include PCI Express® mini-cards and ExpressCard® 34. All products are in full production today.

Product Information

The BCM70010/BCM70012 media PC chipset supports the next generation H.264 and VC-1 video compression algorithms to enable netbooks to playback online high definition streaming and downloaded media content. The chipset is a single-stream HD AVC/VC-1/MPEG-2 video decoder solution capable of full HD real-time decoding. The high performance and low power consumption of this chipset solution reduces CPU utilization and support for mobile platform designs, and fully supports the MPEG-2 standard so that compatibility with existing media (DVD) can be maintained. The chipset supports any compliant resolution from QVGA up to 1920 x 1088.