Technology: Overview

Vivace's chips provide significant advantages over what is in the market today including:

• Support for Multiple Standards – Vivace will support multiple standards on a single chip with loadable firmware that allows new software modules to be loaded on chip as required.  A broad range of video standards will be supported including AVC, MPEG4, MPEG2, Windows Media, Real Media, Shockwave/Flash and VC-1.
• Low Power and Clock Rate – Vivace’s solution will consume only 100 mW of power when delivering full-rate video. 
• Performance and Frame Size – All of these competitive solutions provide support up to VGA but do not provide support for high-quality, full-frame video (up to D1/NTSC).  In addition, there has been no hardware acceleration included for the MPEG4 AVC (H.264) standard that is looking to be the leading candidate for real-time video.
• Architectural and Software Maturity – Vivace’s chip technology is based on Improv’s processor technology which has been implemented in 6 different process technologies by over 12 customers.  The architecture and media compression software have been productized for over two years.
• Full Programmability and Source Code – Vivace’s chips are fully programmable and, with the exception of security features, Vivace will provide its customers with full source code.
• Lower Cost and Die Size – Vivace’s video processor core allows multiple media functions to be executed on a single silicon block rather than on different co-processors.
• DRM Support – Vivace’s chips will support multiple DRM schemes including those outlined in the SVP standard, Microsoft DRM10, Real Networks "Helix"
• Standardized Integration – Vivace will be one of the first chips to market supporting the SVP and MIPI interfaces and ensuring support for broad security features for new DRM schemes.  Security is best supported when key security components are implemented in hardware (directly in silicon) rather than supported through software implementations.