Advanced Micro Devices launches Alchemy Au1200 processor

Advanced Micro Devices launches Alchemy Au1200 processor

AMD have released a brand new chip, which they claim would “forge a new era of portable multimedia”. They have named the processor Alchemy Au1200 processor. It is a low power, high-performance, system-on-chip solution and is aimed to provide living-room quality video entertainment for consumers on the go. They have customized the chip for personal media players and would help in unleashing a new generation of conveniences and features, including scalable DVD-quality displays, video content transfers directly from digital video recorders, and long-lasting battery life.

The processor integrates media acceleration hardware and accompanying media player software to provide such advance features and does not require a digital signal processor (DSP) nor DSP coding. This would let the PMP manufacturers to introduce products to market quickly. In addition, the pricing of these devices would be lower than ever.

It would also let Users of personal media players containing the processor to connect directly to digital video recorders and transfer video content without the need to transcode the file through a personal computer. This would help in reducing time in downloading and playing fresh video entertainment on a PMP.

AMD has collaborated with DVR manufacturer TiVo and would be supporting the TiVo-To-Go initiative, which is aimed at enabling direct transfer of programs from a Series2 TiVo DVR directly to PMPs, laptops and other portable devices. This new processor from the processor company would be supporting industry-standard media formats, including MPEG2, MPEG4, WMV9, H.263, and DivX and would ship in the second quarter of 2005.