Texas Instruments to work with Microsoft on Portable Media Centers

Texas Instruments Incorporation has announced that they would be working with the tech giant Microsoft on the next generation Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Center Software Kits. This would enable the hardware manufacturers to develop Portable Media Centers with Texas Instruments hardware.

This somewhat target hi-tech consoles like the Sony PSP, which are becoming a rage now with their multi-purpose characteristics. John Pollard, director of Windows Mobile Applications and Services Marketing at Microsoft said about this possible collaboration: “Portable Media Centers have created new opportunities for people to take their entertainment – video, photos and music – with them anywhere, anytime.”

Texas Instruments is developing a highly-integrated Digital Media processor targeted specifically for portable applications. They call it TI system-on-a-chip (SOC). It supports QVGA resolution for Windows Media Video 9, as well as up to D1 resolution of other commonly used video formats.

Microsoft launched their own versions of the Media Center PCs a couple of years ago to enter a segment, which is expected to become huge in the coming times. For this initiative, they are already in collaboration with many tech groups around the world like Creative Technologies, iRiver International, Samsung, Sanyo, and ViewSonic. Texas Instruments is just the latest to join the club.