ATI Technologies Tuesday rolled out its new video processor THEATER 550 PRO that will serve for TV and video multimedia applications and enable some new features on PCs at relatively low price-points.

ATI Launches THEATER 5500 PRO

The THEATER 550 PRO video processor integrates nee generation 12-bit video decoder that features 3D comb filtering for NTSC and PAL and 5-line 2D Comb filtering for unprecedented quality; new generation hardware video and audio encoder with new features, such as Advanced Noise Reduction; digital IF demodulation that improves video quality and reduces the overall solution cost by eliminating the need for expensive tuners; worldwide multi-standard audio decoder as well as PCI Express x1 and PCI interface on a single device to allow PC companies additional flexibility in form-factor designs.

“With the introduction of THEATER 550 PRO, ATI has leveraged its success in the consumer DTV markets to effectively change the landscape of the PC by enabling a new level of video experience,” said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President Marketing and General Manager, Desktop, ATI Technologies.

The THEATER 550 PRO revolutionizes how TV on the PC is delivered by offering unique design features that were not previously possible. When building a home theater or mobile notebook PVR PC, THEATER 550 PRO offers many benefits, apart from quality and functionality, including low power consumption coupled with no need for heatsink or cooling fan, small PC form-factor integration is possible with THEATER 550 PRO as it takes less space than competitive solutions, according to ATI.

Products featuring THEATER 550 PRO will be created by add-in card makers, including Gigabyte Technology, Info-Tek Corp., Micro-Star International, Sapphire Technology Limited, Tul Corporation and YUAN High-Tech Development. Notebook original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Acer and original design manufacturers (ODM) including Compal Electronics, Quanta Corporation, and Wistron Corp. will also feature THEATER 550 PRO in their upcoming products.

The THEATER 550 PRO is currently sampling and is ramping to production. Products featuring THEATER 550 PRO will be available from ATI and other manufacturers later this year.

Q&A with ATI Technologies

X-bit labs: Which THEATER 550 PRO products do you plan to release? In case you can name them, can you also indicate any approximate prices for the parts?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: THEATER 550 PRO products will be sold by our partners listed in the presentation. First configurations are our single tuner, PCI or PCI-E, optional Low-Profile boards. They will support FM radio and Video inputs. North American pricing will be 99$, European prices will be determined by our partners.

X-bit labs: Does the chip actually feature TV-Tuner logic and with some additional components can be used on computer TV-Tuners? Maybe it also can work for HDTV Tuners?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: The tuner will be a separate thing, but we integrated IF-demod in our ASIC. We bundle the THEATER 550 PRO with a silicon tuner, optimized for our hardware needs. In fact it is a ATI-customized µtune tuner. HDTV content comes as compressed stream, mostly WMV9, I think. That is not the right application for THEATER 550 PRO.

X-bit labs: Does the THEATER 550 PRO need a graphics processor to display the video, or it features its own RAMDAC? If it does need a VPU, can you name the VPUs compatible with the THEATER 550 PRO?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: It is a PCI/PCI-Express TV card without any TV outputs. THEATER 550 PRO supports various output methods and formats, not only PC-related. The output can be hardware compressed MPEG 2 as well as raw video data, so the ASIC is very universal. In case of PC output, any VPU will be compatible.

X-bit labs: Can the chip encode/decode MPEG4 and similar standards, such as Divx and Xvid? If yes, can it be used in consumer video players that can play Divx, Xvid, DVD, etc?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: MPEG2 encoding is supported by hardware. The THEATER 550 PRO is an advanced video digitizer with analog input. So there is no need to support any decoding, since it has to be handled by the system.

X-bit labs: Can the chip be reprogrammed in some way to be able to play certain new video standards?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: Since the chip has a Media DSP, it can, but it is about compression and filtering, not playback.

X-bit labs: Do you plan to release AXIOM cards with THEATER 550 PRO chips to enable advanced multimedia caps on notebooks?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: Yes we will.

X-bit labs: Will there be THEATER 550 chip? What will be the difference between the 550 and 550 PRO processors?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: Not at the moment or in near term. The difference would be MPEG 2 hardware encoding, 3D comb is essential.

X-bit labs: Will we find THEATER 550 PRO on AIW series graphics boards?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: Its successor will, we have to add SECAM support first, unfortunately. This means at the earliest in a few months.

X-bit labs: How much will the chips, THEATER 550 PRO and THEATER 550, cost for add-in-card makers?

Mike Kreiten, ATI: I do not want to comment on this, but partners will be able and are very willing to sell THEATER 550 PRO products at competitive price points. One advantage is outstanding quality, the other is cost savings on the tuner because of the integrated IF-demod.