Marvell, a designer of various system-on-chips, said this week that the new Foresight Platform, powered by the Marvell Armada 1500 HD SoC, had been designed into the next generation of Google TVs debuting at CES 2012. The Foresight Platform is designed to deliver stereo-3D video, rich audio, 3D graphics and TV-friendly web content.

Marvell Armada 1500 contains Marvell’s highest-performing ARM v6/7-compatible PJ4B SMP super-scalar dual-core CPU. The chip is designed to enable PC-like processing power to support Web browsing with support for Flash and other key technologies – with the aid of more than 6000 Dhrystone MIPS of computing horsepower, FPU v3.0, 512KB of L2 cache and WMMX2. The Foresight Platform is energy efficient and has advanced cell-phone like power management.

The Armada 1500 also contains Marvell’s Qdeo video processing for HD and S3D video, including scaling, noise reduction, de-interlacing, low bit-rate Internet video enhancement and FRC and color/contrast enhancement. The chip offers VMeta, a multi-format video decoder/encoder/transcoder that can decode up to two simultaneous 1080p streams as well as a host of other video formats and containers. These features make the Foresight Platform ideal for Google TV, which requires high processing power for its numerous applications at a cost effective price point.

“Marvell and Google have teamed up to change home entertainment forever – transforming the TV into the command center for our connected lifestyle. Marvell and Google are fundamentally changing the relationship between the producers and consumers of content – from Hollywood to Madison Avenue to publishing and major news networks – creating a dynamic, two-way experience featuring real-time global news, social network, entertainment and information,” said Weili Dai, co-founder of Marvell.

For consumers, today’s digital home offers an endless choice of devices and content. For OEMs and service providers, it’s an all-out sprint to create offerings that perform noticeably better than competitors and at mass-market prices. The Connected TV Marketing Association (CTVMA) estimates 123 million connected TVs will be sold worldwide in 2014. Those consumers will expect access to the services they love – Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, Picasa and many more – in a lightning-fast, crystal-clear and resource-friendly package. 

Tags: Marvell, Armada, ARM, Cortex, Google, Google TV