Philips Inks Agreement With iVAST

[J.A.F._Doorhof]

A crucial milestone for MPEG-4 playback in consumer devices has been achieved through an agreement announced between the semiconductor division of Philips, and iVAST Inc. Under terms of the agreement, iVAST will port its iVAST Experience Player onto Philips' Nexperia silicon system architecture for use in next-generation digital set-top boxes, advanced DVD players and other devices, marking the first complete implementation of MPEG-4 audio/video decode and systems-layer technologies in programmable silicon.

"With the future evolutionary trend of digital media from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4, we looked to iVAST, an established leader in MPEG-4 software, to integrate their technology with our Nexperia Digital Video Platform (DVP)," said John Payne, executive vice president and general manager of Philips Semiconductor. "Our combined solution will transform how consumers experience media today enabling personalized and interactive services like video-on-demand."

The solution will provide consumer electronics manufacturers a cost-effective playback solution for broadcast-quality video, CD-quality audio and fully interactive MPEG-4 experiences, including support for multiple audio and video streams, and animation. This silicon and software solution, is built on Philips' unique Nexperia DVP based MIPS/TriMedia dual-processor. It offers a highly programmable media processor that allows for the rapid development and deployment of iVAST's complete MPEG-4 solution. Cable and satellite providers utilizing set-top boxes and other devices with this system gain the agility to implement new revenue-generating services by leveraging the interactive capabilities of iVAST's MPEG-4 Platform.

CONTACT:
http://www.semiconductors.philips.com
http://www.ivast.com