A new graphics chip aims to allow couch potatoes to simultaneously watch TV programs and surf Web pages on high-resolution displays. Its advent may solve one of the hurdles facing the convergence of computers and televisions.
"Interactive set-top boxes present a problem and an opportunity," said Rich Nelson, director of Broadcom cable products, which introduced the chip Monday. "You have to display Web content generated using computer equipment on a TV, and make the experience good enough so that users are willing to pay for it."
The BCM7014 chip will eventually find a home in cable TV set-top boxes that will one day grant consumers control over layered graphics and video windows on their screens. This kind of viewing is expected to become increasingly common as TV networks integrate Web sites and broadcast programming.
"You'll be able to switch from Web content to TV screens and use effects like peeling back a page or having multiple layers of windows up easily," said Nelson.
The new chip is similar in spirit to the PC graphics accelerator cards that are popular with computer gamers. The chip will support studio-quality text and video-on-demand applications that are expected to become more common as set-top boxes work their way into more homes.
Broadcom embedded an "anti-flicker filter" in the new chip to dispense with the imperfections that normally result when PC content is displayed on a TV screen.
"Now, developers can create Web content and our chip will get rid of the flicker and do the aspect ratio correction.... You [Web developers] do what you normally do, and we'll make it look good and drive a larger market for you folks," said Nelson.
Broadcom (BRCM), headquartered in Irvine, California, made a splash in September when the company introduced a single chip that can replace the three-chip system used by most cable modem box manufacturers.
The chips are designed to give TVs some of a computer's basic capabilities -- like Web surfing and email -- and allow cable companies to offer advanced entertainment features, such as video on demand.
The chip will ship in the first quarter of 1999 and will cost US$21 per 100,000 units. However, Nelson said since the functions built into the chip overlap with existing set-top box chips, it will only add about $5 to the overall cost of the devices.
GE, Scientific Atlanta, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Nokia, and Samsung are among the companies that manufacture set-top boxes.
