14 DAY TRIAL // A joint initiative by Microsoft and Broadcom aims to drive down the costs associated with the delivery of HD DVD playback. At the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft and Broadcom announced a collaboration to support a software and hardware reference design in order to reduce the costs of HD DVD players. In this context, Microsoft Windows CE 6.0 and Broadcom's BCM7440 system-on-chip solution will function in tandem across a new platform addressing consumer electronics manufacturers, original design manufacturers and systems integrators.
"One of the critical steps in bringing HD DVD to the mass market is driving down the price of the units while maintaining flawless quality," said Peter Besen, vice president, Consumer Electronics, Broadband Communications Group, from Broadcom. "Our BCM7440 chipset brings multiple processors, dual decoders and dedicated graphics engines to the table. Combined with the power of Windows CE 6.0, we're able to offer a complete reference design that dramatically reduces development time for our manufacturing partners."
There are currently in excess of 240 HD DVD titles available for the public, and Microsoft revealed that the movie studios plan to release another 300 films in 2007. The joint Microsoft and Broadcom platform will deliver a high level of compliance and compatibility, HDi interactive navigation and the set of mandatory HD DVD codecs.
"We've seen strong sales of HD DVD players and movies so far, but using this new platform, companies can produce HD DVD players in record time, resulting in more choices for consumers," said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the Consumer Media Technology Group at Microsoft. "The power and high integration of BCM7440, combined with the Windows CE 6.0 HD DVD platform, results in even lower cost players for consumers than the high value products already in the market."