IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES DEMONSTRATES NEXT-GENERATION VIDEO

LAS VEGAS, NV, Jan. 7, 2008 -- Imagination Technologies - a leader in System-on-Chip Intellectual Property (SoC IP) - will be demonstrating the latest technologies for advanced TV products at International CES 2008.

Visitors to the show will see:

POWERVR™ VXD370 IP core for multi-standard, multi-stream HD (high definition) video decode using less than 50mW
POWERVR™ I2P-GC Interlace to Progressive scan conversion IP core that delivers exceptional image quality using a fraction of the silicon area used by conventional solutions
POWERVR™ SGX shader 3D/vector graphics (OpenGLES 2.0) and POWERVR™ MBX 3D/vector graphics (OpenGLES 1.1) IP cores delivering advanced User Interface (UI) solutions for TV and STB applications
ENSIGMA™ UCC multi-standard receiver IP core that enables a single receiver to be dynamically reconfigured to receive a wide range of digital TV, analogue TV, mobile TV, digital and analogue radio broadcasts
META™ ATP multi-threaded processing IP core for IP streaming, audio processing and other DTV/STB SoC applications

International CES 2008 in Las Vegas runs from January 7th-10th and the Imagination Technologies booth is at South Hall 2 #25959, Las Vegas Convention Center.

Multi-standard HD Video Decoders

Imagination's POWERVR VXD370 is uniquely capable of efficiently decoding all the main video standards to the highest HD profiles - including H.264, VC-1(WMV 9), DivX, MPEG-4, H.263, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, JPEG - while using the smallest silicon area and lowest power consumption.

POWERVR VXD370's multi-mode hardware approach delivers dramatic reductions in silicon area and power consumption for a configurable solution, as a large proportion of the processing hardware required is based on similar building blocks for the many video standards supported by the core.

As an example, a 90nm 133MHz implementation of the core delivers power consumption of around 45mW for decoding HD and lower resolution video streams using H.264 High Profile, and as little as 30mW for MPEG-2 Main Profile.

POWERVR VXD370 supports all HD resolutions and may be configured to support multiple stream decode allowing rich picture-in-picture options such as next station preview, Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) grids of live videos, or dynamic video browsing for media player applications.

De-Interlacing Technologies

Imagination Technologies' POWERVR I2P-GC is a very high quality interlace to progressive converter using Imagination's own Gradient Compensation technology for achieving performance approaching that of full motion compensation based approaches, but using far less silicon. The POWERVR I2P-GC core uses innovative patented techniques for converting interlaced to progressive video to provide the highest quality viewing experience on the latest generation of progressive scan displays.

POWERVR I2P-GC has been extensively tested and tuned to remove the artefacts associated with other inferior deinterlacing techniques. I2P-GC significantly reduces the 'jaggies' seen with traditional de-interlacers even when the motion is complex and fast moving. POWERVR I2P-GC achieves quality close to that of Imagination's full motion compensated solution (POWERVR I2P-MC), but requires approximately a quarter of the silicon area.

Frame Rate Conversion Technologies

Also on show will be a range of advanced video enhancement technologies currently in development, including 'Movie Mode' Frame Rate Conversion which removes the juddering-effects seen when film is viewed on large flat panel TVs after conversion to video formats at frame rates typically used by commercial broadcasters. This FRC technique may also be applied to the frame rate doubling of 50/60 Hz material, producing 100/120 Hz material for new LCD panel displays and reducing apparent motion blur.

3D and Vector Graphics Acceleration for User Interfaces and Gaming

Imagination Technologies' POWERVR MBX is the de facto standard for 3D in mobile phones and is the enabling technology behind the leading 3D user interfaces in that market. The latest generation POWERVR SGX, with many leading licensees developing solutions for DTV, IPTV and STB, looks set to extend that leadership in to all areas of consumer electronics where user interfaces, gaming and other graphics-driven applications will be key product differentiators.

With TVs now matching most PC monitors pixel for pixel the capabilities of POWERVR are now being exploited for advanced TV user-interfaces which combine video and 3D graphics to make them more attractive, informative and easy-to-use.

The simplistic interfaces that have dominated TVs for decades are finally being replaced by interfaces built using rotation, scaling and depth which deliver advanced 3D and are tailored to the unique requirements of the HDTV environment, where video and 3D must seamlessly integrate.

Imagination will demonstrate POWERVR MBX and SGX driving 3D menus created by partners in our industry-leading developer ecosystem POWERVR Insider including NetDimension, with its MatrixEngine product and TAT with Cascades.

Multi-Standard TV Receivers

Imagination's ENSIGMA UCC multi-standard receiver core enables mobile, analogue and digital TV reception across a wide range of world-standards, as well as digital and analogue radio. The core delivers market-leading features and performance, enabling multi-standard broadcast reception from the same silicon area as a single-standard chip.

ENSIGMA UCC cores support: DVB-H; DVB-T; 1seg, 3seg and Full-seg (13seg) ISDB-T; DAB; Enhanced Packet Mode DAB; DAB-IP; T-DMB; and FM radio as well as PAL/NTSC. Support for a growing number of other regional standards, such as MediaFLO, is also in advanced development.

By supporting multiple standards on the same IP core Imagination's licensing partners are significantly reducing the total cost of ownership for global receiver technology.

UCC is being demonstrated at the show at the heart of a multi-standard mobile TV receiver platform, in which it is coupled with Imagination's META ATP processing core to enable effective real-time broadcast receiver devices.

Multi-threaded Processing

The META family of multithreaded RISC/DSP processor cores is specifically designed for high performance real time operation at low clock speeds, making the best possible use of memory bandwidth and providing exceptional tolerance of system latencies.

The multi-threaded architecture of META HTP and META ATP, which has been proven in silicon in millions of units, allows the overlapped execution of multiple threads, enabling multiple time-critical DSP-rich applications and non real-time general purpose tasks to run concurrently on the same processor, reducing power consumption and silicon area whilst increasing throughput beyond that of traditional processors so that one META can replace multiple high performance RISC and DSP cores.

About Imagination Technologies

Imagination Technologies Group plc (FTSE:IMG) - a leader in semiconductor System-on-Chip Intellectual Property (SoC IP) - creates and licenses market-leading embedded graphics, video and display accelerators, multi-threaded processors and multi-standard receiver technologies. These IP solutions are complemented by dynamic and extensive developer and middleware ecosystems. Target markets include digital radio and audio, mobile phone multimedia, personal media players (PMP), in-car navigation & driver information, personal navigation devices (PND), Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) and Mobile Internet Device (MID), digital TV & set-top box, and mobile TV. Its licensees include leading semiconductor and consumer electronics companies, as well as innovative leading edge start-up and fabless semiconductor companies. Imagination has corporate headquarters in the United Kingdom, with sales and R&D offices worldwide. See www.imgtec.com.

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