Zoran upscaler chip attempts to bridge HD-DVD gap

Zoran has introduced an upscaler chip for DVD players to upsample DVD content to high-definition displays.

The HDXtreme DVD upscaler’s reference design is complete and mass production quantities are shipping to major DVD player manufacturers.

The HDXtreme chip could bridge the gap between the standard-definition video stored on today’s DVDs and next-generation high-definition DVD formats, such as Blu-ray or HD-DVD. Although the formats are currently being debated, studio owners have yet to decide which format they will bless as the vehicle for high-definition content.

Zoran’s chips can output video in either analog format or use the new High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a video transmission standard supported by Hitachi, Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic), Philips, Sony, Thomson (RCA), Toshiba, and Silicon Image, among others.

Zoran’s Vaddis DVD decoder chip outputs video in progressive-scan mode, eliminating the need for a line doubler.

Eventually, both the HDXtreme and the Vaddis chips will be integrated into a single component.

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