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AMD Unveils Digital Cable Tuner
Techtree News Staff, Jan 11, 2007 1331 hrs ISTAMD has unveiled ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner, claimed to be the industry's only device enabling users watch/record premium HD digital cable content.
AMD has unveiled the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner, claimed to be the industry's first and only device that enables users to watch and record premium HD digital cable content, such as HD ESPN and HD HBO, on PC.
The ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner turns a PC into a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) with easy to use Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center menus and interfaces.
Also, it is claimed to be the industry's first DTV receiver for Windows Vista that combines premium digital cable programming with media center PC functionality.
Using the new ATI Digital Cable Tuner, consumers can watch live or recorded HD broadcasts to preserve in a video library or stream to the Xbox 360, if permitted by the content provider. The Cable Tuner is powered by AMD Avivo image technology; therefore consumers can enjoy outstanding picture quality and smooth playback of the premium HD digital cable TV content on their media center PC, along with basic cable channels, traditional analog TV, and free-to-air HD channels.
According to Dr Jon Peddie from Jon Peddie Research, an analyst firm, "ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner demonstrates the maturity of PC-based media centers. It enables the PC to compete on a level footing with traditional consumer electronic devices. For the first time, you can build a media PC and watch, record, and play back any and all of the content you can see on your TV."
The Digital Cable Tuner is certified by CableLabs, which is a cable industry research and development consortium. This certification gives device manufacturers' access to special security certificates required to operate a device on an OpenCable network.
The pricing for the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner will vary depending on the OEM manufacturer, and the level of hardware included. It is scheduled to be available from January 30, 2007 inside desktop and notebook PCs from the industry's top PC manufacturers.
In a separate announcement from AMD, the company has confirmed the development of DTX, an open standard specification designed to enable the broad adoption of small form factor PCs.
According to AMD, the specification is intended to help OEMs and ODMs in developing innovative solutions that are smaller, and quieter. The DTX standard will take advantage of the existing ATX infrastructure and benefits, including cost efficiency, system options and backward-compatibility, to allow for ground-breaking PC design.
Further, the DTX standard will be designed to embrace energy-efficient processors from AMD or other hardware vendors, and allow an optimally designed small form factor system to consume less power and generate less noise. When processor power consumption is reduced, system size and cooling costs can also go down. Moreover, energy efficient processors can help extend the longevity of PCs.
In addition, the DTX will be designed to provide improved motherboard layout standardization, while being sensitive to the needs of OEMs, ODMs, and component vendors. As the desktop market moves to lower thermal design power (TDP) processors and works to lower costs, an eye to balancing interchangeability of components with small form factor products becomes critical.
AMD is of the view that the market pull for small form factors PCs is of particular interest in the small and medium business (SMB) and consumer markets that value the size advantage, power savings, and quiet nature of energy-efficient systems. Therefore, the evolution of desktop systems into smaller form factors with lower thermal design power is a major step forward for the PC industry as a whole.
The ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner turns a PC into a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) with easy to use Microsoft Windows Vista Media Center menus and interfaces.
Also, it is claimed to be the industry's first DTV receiver for Windows Vista that combines premium digital cable programming with media center PC functionality.
Using the new ATI Digital Cable Tuner, consumers can watch live or recorded HD broadcasts to preserve in a video library or stream to the Xbox 360, if permitted by the content provider. The Cable Tuner is powered by AMD Avivo image technology; therefore consumers can enjoy outstanding picture quality and smooth playback of the premium HD digital cable TV content on their media center PC, along with basic cable channels, traditional analog TV, and free-to-air HD channels.
According to Dr Jon Peddie from Jon Peddie Research, an analyst firm, "ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner demonstrates the maturity of PC-based media centers. It enables the PC to compete on a level footing with traditional consumer electronic devices. For the first time, you can build a media PC and watch, record, and play back any and all of the content you can see on your TV."
The Digital Cable Tuner is certified by CableLabs, which is a cable industry research and development consortium. This certification gives device manufacturers' access to special security certificates required to operate a device on an OpenCable network.
The pricing for the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner will vary depending on the OEM manufacturer, and the level of hardware included. It is scheduled to be available from January 30, 2007 inside desktop and notebook PCs from the industry's top PC manufacturers.
In a separate announcement from AMD, the company has confirmed the development of DTX, an open standard specification designed to enable the broad adoption of small form factor PCs.
According to AMD, the specification is intended to help OEMs and ODMs in developing innovative solutions that are smaller, and quieter. The DTX standard will take advantage of the existing ATX infrastructure and benefits, including cost efficiency, system options and backward-compatibility, to allow for ground-breaking PC design.
Further, the DTX standard will be designed to embrace energy-efficient processors from AMD or other hardware vendors, and allow an optimally designed small form factor system to consume less power and generate less noise. When processor power consumption is reduced, system size and cooling costs can also go down. Moreover, energy efficient processors can help extend the longevity of PCs.
In addition, the DTX will be designed to provide improved motherboard layout standardization, while being sensitive to the needs of OEMs, ODMs, and component vendors. As the desktop market moves to lower thermal design power (TDP) processors and works to lower costs, an eye to balancing interchangeability of components with small form factor products becomes critical.
AMD is of the view that the market pull for small form factors PCs is of particular interest in the small and medium business (SMB) and consumer markets that value the size advantage, power savings, and quiet nature of energy-efficient systems. Therefore, the evolution of desktop systems into smaller form factors with lower thermal design power is a major step forward for the PC industry as a whole.
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alphamax
,bangalore, on Jan 11, 2007 04:22 PM
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jose
,alexandria, on Jan 13, 2007 07:48 PM
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,chennai, on Jan 11, 2007 05:53 PM
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