23 June 2009

LG Electronics Adopts ARM To Drive Digitally Connected Home

ARM has confirmed that LG Electronics, one of the world’s largest digital TV brands, has licensed ARM technology to power its digital TV (DTV) development, driving forward the digitally connected home.

“By licensing ARM technologies, LG Electronics will be able to offer a future-proofed premium-quality digital TV experience for today’s connected home,” said Seung-Jong Choi, research fellow of Digital TV Lab, LG Electronics. “The connected home relies on technology that is fully functional and that guarantees a high-quality, energy efficient multimedia experience.  With Web 2.0 requirements moving into a connected and high definition home, LG Electronics has selected the ARM architecture to guarantee longevity for our own technology.” 
LG Electronics will use the ARM11 MPCore multicore processor, which provides  flexible and cost effective processing, in its next generation DTVs, to target a range of platforms with the same architecture simply by implementing single or multiple SMP cores.

The market proven ARM11 MPCore synthesizable multicore processor provides a scalable solution that addresses the requirements of multiple designs. Devices can be configured to contain between one and four processors delivering up to an aggregate 5000 Dhrystone MIPS of performance at 1GHz while providing existing software portability across single CPU and multi-CPU designs.  The ARM11 MPCore processor provides the memory throughput required of data intensive applications while delivering greater performance at lower frequencies than comparable single processor designs, so offering significant cost savings to system designers.  The ARM11 MPCore processor also simplifies otherwise complex multiprocessor design, reducing time-to-market and total design cost.

At the same time ARM’s Mali200 and Mali-400 MP graphics processors will open up the way to true 1080p resolutions, affording consumers a home cinema experience that includes high-definition graphics, whilst vastly improving the browsing experience on DTV user interfaces, the company said. 

The Mali GPU family scales from Mali-55, the world’s smallest OpenGL ES graphics processor to Mali-400 MP, the highest-performance embedded multicore GPU IP on the market which supports complex applications at up to 1080p high-definition resolution, thereby addressing the widest range of performance points for all embedded graphics needs.

Mali graphics processors deliver 2D and 3D graphics providing 4x and 16x full scene anti-aliasing (FSAA) without any noticeable drop in performance. In addition to providing content developers with the state-of-the-art programmable features in OpenGL ES 2.0, Mali products also support 2D scalable vector graphics through OpenVG for improved text, navigation, UI and web-browsing experiences.
 “Today’s consumers are pushing manufacturers to produce home technology that allows an environment for sharing digital media and content services. End users are increasingly discerning and are demanding premium-quality experiences through digital TV,” said Mike Inglis, EVP and general manager, Processor Division at ARM.  “The combination of ARM CPU and Mali graphics processors  clearly represents a compelling package for DTV and connected home technology manufacturers, who will be able to provide their customers with integrated, high-quality, Internet connected, multimedia-ready devices that are proven to be energy efficient.”

Consumers are looking for a full Web 2.0 experience from their DTVs.  With Adobe and Open source software platforms, and the emergence of tru2way technology, consumers can receive interactive cable services, including video-on-demand, voting and polling, games, and e-commerce without the need for a separate set-top box. Additionally, manufacturers are working to build intelligent AV processing and develop home devices that are truly energy efficient.