Intel Plans Support for Google's WebM Video Format

Just about a week ago, an official announcement made it clear that Intel was determined to place its processors at the heart of next-generation web-connected TVs. In fact, Sony and Logitech have already expressed their intention to create such TVs based on the Atom CE4100 processor. This chip will have to include not just the necessary computing capabilities, but also graphics and audio digital signal processors, in addition to the support for Gigabit Ethernet. Intel seemed quite confident that the chip would turn out well and, now, it appears that the initial plans have evolved.

The Santa Clara, California-based company and Google will work together on bringing Internet Video to TV sets through the Google TV platforms. Google will provide the necessary software and the service should make it to actual products, such as Sony HDTVs and Blu-ray DVD players (to name a few), before the year is out. Now, a report has emerged, stating that the chip developer has its eye on the WebM video-file format that Google announced last week.

WebM aims to allow various electronics, from TV sets to handsets, play back high-definition videos. This is possible because the video streams are compressed with the open source VP8 video codec, acquired by Google in February, when it bought On2. The Atom CE4100 will, of course, be able to play such files using software, but hardware acceleration would enable it to decode them much faster. This would, among other things, lead to an increased quality and energy efficiency. Considering that Google owns YouTube, this feature may turn out to be especially useful.

"Just like we did with other codecs like MPEG2, H.264 & VC1, if VP8 establishes itself in the Smart TV space, we will add it to our [hardware] decoders," Wilfred Martis, general manager for retail consumer electronics at Intel's Digital Home Group, said.