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LAS VEGAS, 2005 International CES, Jan 06, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions enabling broadband communications, today announced a high definition (HD) DVD player/recorder reference design targeted specifically to the emerging HD consumer DVD equipment market. The new reference design leverages the company's expertise in developing silicon implementations of the H.264 video compression technology, which is a standards-based technology that enables the development of high definition DVD players, recorders and personal video recorders (PVRs).
The introduction of HDTV video content by both television broadcasters and movie studios has substantially increased the storage requirements of DVD players and recorders and hard drive-based PVRs. The increased compression efficiency of the new H.264 compression algorithm (also known as MPEG-4 Part 10/Advanced Video Coding (AVC)) not only allows these devices to record as much as 3-times the number of hours of standard definition programming, it also allows them to effectively handle the significantly higher bit rates associated with high resolution HDTV content. In addition, the high definition DVD formats, Blu-ray™ and HD-DVD, have specified H.264 as a mandatory compression standard for future HDTV applications. These factors establish a new high-volume market opportunity for HD DVD players and recorders enabled by Broadcom® silicon.
One of the key enabling technologies for the new Broadcom\BCM97435 HD DVD reference design is the BCM7411 MPEG-4/AVC video decoder/audio processor chip. This recently announced device supports the H.264 video compression standard, which represents the current leading-edge compression technology in the industry. The chip is designed to improve video compression performance by a factor of two to three times when compared to existing MPEG-2 solutions. This improved performance provides greater digital media capacity for storing video and audio programs on DVDs and hard disk drives.
The BCM97435 high definition DVD player/recorder reference design showcases three of Broadcom's leading edge components in a highly efficient and cost-effective design. The components include the BCM7038 dual-channel high definition digital video chip, the BCM7411 MPEG-4/AVC video decoder/audio processor chip, and the BCM3520 plug-and-play digital TV receiver chip. In addition, the BCM97435 reference design features a complete suite of software that provides OEMs with PVR capabilities, DVD navigation (standard and high definition), and DVD burn and EPG (electronic program guide) functions.
"The BCM97435 high definition DVD reference design represents an important milestone in this nascent consumer platform as it allows OEMs to quickly and cost-effectively transition to high definition DVD applications," said Peter Besen, Vice President, Consumer Electronics of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Group. With our extensive SoC experience in the set-top box market, and our patent-pending advanced video codec technology, Broadcom is ideally positioned to offer leading silicon solutions for next-generation DVD products."
The BCM97435 reference design supports playback as well as a combination of player/recorder capabilities. It also supports next-generation DVD standards that are being defined by the DVD Forum and Blu-ray Disc Association. These new standards include high definition video support, advanced video codecs (such as MPEG-4 Part 10/AVC), blue laser drive support, network connectivity and advanced DVD navigation features. The BCM97435 reference design also supports the OpenCable™ standard, which is an important specification that allows consumers to directly record digital content onto their DVD recorders and PVRs without requiring set-top boxes.
Included with the BCM97435 reference design is a software architecture that is designed to allow OEMs and strategic partners to integrate their value added components onto the BCM97435 reference design platform. Sonic Solutions, Broadcom's software partner for DVD navigation and burn software, is demonstrating its Authorscript™ CE DVD playback and recording software running on Broadcom's reference design platform at 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). "A key element of Broadcom's strategy is to provide OEMs with a complete and proven DVD solution," said Don Shulsinger, Broadcom's Vice President of Business Development for Consumer Products. "Sonic's industry leading software brings the same ease of use and compatibility that end-users experience on their PCs using the Broadcom reference design platform."
Broadcom is showing the BCM97435 reference design at the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show, January 6 to 9, 2005, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Meeting Room 35768.
Product Availability
The BCM97435 high definition DVD player/recorder reference design is available today. The BCM7038 digital video chip, the BCM7411 MPEG-4/AVC video decoder/audio processor chip and the BCM3520 digital TV receiver chip are all sampling today.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a leading provider of highly integrated semiconductor solutions that enable broadband communications and networking of voice, video and data services. We design, develop and supply complete system- on-a-chip (SoC) solutions incorporating digital, analog, radio frequency (RF), microprocessor and digital signal processing (DSP) technologies, as well as related hardware and software system-level applications. Our diverse product portfolio addresses every major broadband communications market and includes solutions for digital cable and satellite set-top boxes; high definition television (HDTV); cable and digital subscriber line (DSL) modems and residential gateways; high-speed transmission and switching for local, metropolitan, wide area and storage networking; home and wireless networking; cellular and terrestrial wireless communications; Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateway and telephony systems; broadband network and security processors; and SystemI/O™ server solutions. These technologies and products support our core mission: Connecting everything®.
Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.
Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with the BCM97435 reference design and BCM7038, BCM7411 and BCM3520 products include, but are not limited to, general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address, including the volatility in the technology sector and semiconductor industry, trends in the broadband communications markets in various geographic regions, and possible disruption in commercial activities related to terrorist activity or armed conflict in the United States and other locations; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's technologies and products in the markets for cable, satellite, HDTV, IP, and DSL silicon applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; our ability to retain, recruit and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the positions and numbers, with the experience and capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a cost-effective and timely manner; the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order; competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; our ability to scale our operations in response to changes in demand for our products and services; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non- qualification or non-certification; our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; changes in our product or customer mix; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry and assembly capacity and raw materials; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effectiveness of our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations, particularly in light of recent events; the effects of natural disasters, public health emergencies, international conflicts and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; and other factors.
Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.
Broadcom®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything®, the Connecting everything logo, and SystemI/O™ are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. Blu-ray™ is a trademark of the Blue-ray Disc Association. OpenCable™ is a trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. AuthorScript™ is a trademark of Sonic Solutions. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
Broadcom Trade Press Contact
Laura Brandlin
Director, Marketing Communications
949-926-5108
lbrandlin@broadcom.com
Broadcom Business Press Contact
Bill Blanning
Vice President, Public Relations
949-926-5555
blanning@broadcom.com
Broadcom Technical Contact
Jonathan Goldberg
Product Line Manager
978-475-8990 x243
jonathangoldberg@broadcom.com
Broadcom Investor Relations Contact
T. Peter Andrew
Sr. Director, Investor Relations
949-926-5663
andrewtp@broadcom.com
SOURCE Broadcom Corporation
Trade Press, Laura Brandlin, Director, Marketing Communications, +1-949-926-5108, lbrandlin@broadcom.com, or Business Press, Bill Blanning, Vice President, Public Relations, +1-949-926-5555, blanning@broadcom.com, or Technical, Broadcom Technical Contact, Jonathan Goldberg, Product Line Manager, +1-978-475-8990, ext. 243, jonathangoldberg@broadcom.com, Investor Relations, T. Peter Andrew, Sr. Director, Investor Relations, +1-949-926-5663, andrewtp@broadcom.com, all of Broadcom Corporation
