Single Chip Gives Home PC's HDTV-Quality Movies, Surround Sound, Videophone And Much More; Affordable Baseline of New Multimedia Capabilities Will Redefine 1996 Home PCs

Business Wire, Oct 9, 1995

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 1995-- Chromatic Research, Inc., together with Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. and LG Semicon America, Inc. today jointly announced the Mpact(TM) media engine: the first complete, single-chip multimedia solution for the home PC.

The Mpact media engine provides state-of-the-art capabilities for all seven multimedia functions -- video, 2D graphics acceleration, 3D graphics acceleration, audio, FAX/modem, telephony and videophone -- in a single, software-upgradable processor designed for PC motherboards. PCs equipped with the Mpact media engine will be available to consumers in mid-96.

Mpact's audio capabilities include Dolby(R) Surround AC-3(TM), the audio standard for the recently announced digital video disk (DVD) format. Chromatic is the first computing company to license Dolby Surround AC-3.

Mpact also includes 3-D sound for games that fools the ear into thinking sounds are coming from beyond the points where the two speakers are located.

Mpact's video capabilities include MPEG-2 (Motion Pictures Experts Group) decoding for HDTV (high definition television)-quality movies and video clips. With the combination of MPEG decoding and Dolby Surround AC-3, users will be able to watch full-screen, feature-length DVD movies as well as instructional and entertainment CD-ROMs. These capabilities exceed the VCR-quality video of MPEG-1, which is just now becoming available in home PCs.

Mpact is the only product of any kind that meets the complete multimedia needs of the exploding $12 billion home PC market(1). For the same or even lower cost than today's limited PC multimedia capabilities, Mpact-equipped PCs will allow users to: -0-

-- watch HDTV-quality video in movies, games and CD-ROMs;

-- play video games with realistic 3D imaging and 3D sound that rival the latest "64-bit" gaming systems from Sony, Sega and Nintendo;

-- experience realistic music and sound effects with better-than-CD-quality;

-- view and download video and graphics-intensive information quickly from the Internet and commercial on-line services;

-- view photo-realistic images with over 16 million colors;

-- talk to someone while sending them data over the same phone line;

-- use their PC as personal or family voicemail system with caller ID;

-- conduct business or keep in closer touch with friends through an affordable videophone. -0-

The Mpact media engine consists of two components: 1) a single ultra-high-bandwidth, highly parallel media processor, and 2) "mediaware" software modules which enable the seven functions and various levels of capabilities within each function.

The Mpact media processor, architected by Chromatic, was a joint development effort by Chromatic and Toshiba for Toshiba's implementation of the Mpact media processor. A similar joint effort is underway with Chromatic and LG Semicon. Under license from Chromatic, Toshiba and LG Semicon will manufacture and sell their Mpact media processors.

Chromatic will sell its enabling mediaware modules directly to PC manufacturers.

Making PCs Even More Compelling For Consumers

The three companies expect the Mpact media engine to enable the affordable 1996 home PC to become the family entertainment, education and communications device. For example, an Mpact-enabled "PC" could also function as a set-top box for interactive television, a videophone, a high-fidelity stereo, a digital VCR and more. The Mpact media engine will make home PCs even more compelling to consumers while providing PC vendors with significant new market opportunities in the consumer electronics arena.

"The multimedia PC today resembles Frankenstein's monster, and it performs about as smoothly," said Wes Patterson, President and CEO of Chromatic Research. "Today's definition of a multimedia PC is one with a CD-ROM drive and a hodgepodge of separate add-in cards and various chips that work poorly with each other to offer limited capabilities. Mpact will establish a new feature-rich, high-performance baseline for PC multimedia, but it will go well beyond just making PC multimedia better. Mpact enables the PC to live up to its bold promise as the family's entertainment, education and communications center."

"I don't know of anyone trying to do what these companies are doing together," said Ted Waitt, President and CEO, Gateway 2000. "They are the only ones offering a complete multimedia solution in a single chip. The incredible list of multimedia functions that they bring to the PC platform should make the fast growing home PC market grow even faster."

The Mpact media engine is designed for the PC and is optimized to take full advantage of today's most widely used software standards and applications including Windows 95.

"We are excited about the Mpact media engine and its potential to show off the entertainment- and education-focused APIs (application programming interfaces) in Windows 95," said Jay Torborg, Director of Graphics and Multimedia in the Consumer Systems Division of Microsoft. "Mpact is designed to support a broad range of multimedia capabilities and will enable software developers to quickly capitalize on the advantages offered by Microsoft APIs such as DirectPlay, DirectDraw, Direct3D and upcoming DirectVideo."