11-15-2002, 05:22 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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ATI Introduces Next Generation IMAGEON� 3200
http://mirror.ati.com/companyinfo/press/2002/4570.html
Looks like ATI has a new mobile processor coming out this month - the feature list is quite impressive. Alpha blending, Gouraud shading, MPEG and JPEG decoding acceleration, USB On-The-Go, and video capture port support. Now how much do you want to bet that's why we haven't heard a peep from Toshiba yet? I bet their next device will use the Imageon 3200.
I hope this time it will really make a difference though - I remember being excited about the Imageon 100, but when you look at the performance numbers on the Toshiba, you can't tell that it's packing a 2D accelerator.
"ATI Technologies Inc. today introduced IMAGEON� 3200, the most advanced multimedia co-processor for handheld electronic devices such as Personal Data Assistants (PDA) and the new generation of data-enabled Mobile Phones. IMAGEON 3200 is a member of ATI's second-generation family of media co-processors for handheld devices. It integrates an advanced 2D graphics engine and an MPEG/JPEG decoder alongside a powerful and versatile set of peripheral I/O functions. The IMAGEON 3200 highly optimized architecture and features offer the highest graphics performance and frame rates while lowering the overall system power dissipation. Handheld devices using the IMAGEON 3200 will benefit from a much longer battery life." Read on for the rest of the press release
"ATI's IMAGEON 3200 raises the bar once again by taking advantage of new technologies to deliver amazing graphics quality and battery life for all handheld devices including the frugal mobile phones," said Azzedine Boubguira, Director of Marketing, Handheld Products Group, ATI Technologies Inc. "In addition to completing the architecture of mobile devices and enhancing their performance, the new IMAGEON 3200 offers more value to OEMs for cost and power saving by integrating several necessary peripheral I/O functions."
IMAGEON 3200 continues to offer IMAGEON industry-leading functionality designed to enhance OEM (original equipment manufacturer) products. The following are just some of the outstanding IMAGEON 3200 features:
� Enhanced 2D Graphics Engine: All basic 2D acceleration functions are supported to enable fast animation and fast drawing to the screen.
� IMAGEON 3200 also includes advanced features such as alpha blending, object rotation, and Gouraud shading to enhance the visual quality and help the creativity of content developers for the handheld market.
� MPEG and JPEG decoding: The video hardware decode functions free up more than 50% of MIPS power from the main CPU, resulting in the support of higher resolutions at higher frame rates with no visual artifacts.
� Integrated Memory: IMAGEON 3200 includes enough embedded SRAM (static random access memory) to support double buffering of images for higher quality graphics and video on standard PDA display resolutions (up to 320 x 480 pixels).
� Host Interface: IMAGEON 3200 uses a high-bandwidth, high performance host- interface to connect seamlessly to all industry-leading embedded microprocessors such as Intel's XScale, Motorola's MX1, TI's OMAP, and Samsung's S3C2400.
� Display Engine: The main component of the display engine is a programmable LCD Timing Controller (or TCON). The programmability of this timing generator gives OEMs the flexibility to interface to a large number of LCD panels using different technologies from different manufacturers.
� USB On-The-Go (OTG): IMAGEON 3200 is the first integrated co-processor to offer USB OTG (On-The-Go) - a new standard that connects two USB devices directly. USB On-The-Go is designed for mobile interconnectivity by allowing a USB device to communicate with other USB peripherals (such as printers) without the need to go through a PC.
Secure Digital (SD) card: Both SD memory cards and SDIO cards (with functions such as Bluetooth, digital cameras, etc�) are supported with the fully integrated and standard compliant controller. Multi-media Cards (MMC) are also supported.
� Video Capture Port: IMAGEON 3200 connects seamlessly to digital cameras and other video sources through its embedded capture port for images with resolutions up to VGA. Three input formats are accepted including the ITU-656 standard.
Availability
ATI's IMAGEON 3200 media controller is currently sampling. Mass production shipments will start by the end of November."
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11-15-2002, 05:27 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 433
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hope they make a good graphic accelator, i'm hoping to see a 40 fps in my pocket tv, it'll be nice to watch bmw films at that speed :lol:
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11-15-2002, 05:29 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 725
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Yes, lets hope this one at least makes performance better rather than worse.
This is really where ATI should be putting their resources I think, as much as they try to leap frog Nvidia in the Desktop market it just isn't going to happen (Nvidia has much more money to play with) and this market seems to be one that Nvidia has completely ignored (they say they're still working on a mobile chip they got in the 3Dfx aquisition but how long does it take to finish a mobile processor?)
This could be a big market someday and ATI should pay close attention to it.
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11-15-2002, 05:49 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 106
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Well, that just shot my next PPC idea to... ya know. I hope Toshiba is going to make an e760 or something with this thing inside. Of course, like the Imageon 100, it could just receive no support and make the thing really suck. My "dream" device would be like this...
3.5" transflective screen
400MHz XScale
Imageon 3200
64MB RAM/48MB ROM
2 SD I/O slots
Bluetooth built-in (with pulsing blue LED... :twisted: )
I would like Toshiba, or whoever else BESIDES Compaq to do a device just like this... I am hoping maybe the E-740 with all it's rebates and whatever is being shoved out of the way for a newer model, including this chip.
By the way, what other devices other than the E-740 have this chip? I've never seen any.
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11-15-2002, 05:56 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,133
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Am I right in thinking that PDAs these days are all multi-chip devices? I'm surprised there hasn't been more of a move to system-on-a-chip.
I haven't looked inside a PDA (yet) myself. How many different chips are in there?
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11-15-2002, 07:13 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 300
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by kati42
Am I right in thinking that PDAs these days are all multi-chip devices? I'm surprised there hasn't been more of a move to system-on-a-chip.
I haven't looked inside a PDA (yet) myself. How many different chips are in there?
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I believe that (system on a chip) is the aim of the new low-cost reference-design by Samsung and Microsoft. While it will almost certainly have multiple chips (Flash RAM, ROM/Flash ROM, CPU, and some I/O processor...), you can expect fewer than in current devices (possibly integrated I/O, Video and sound, or something... not sure).
One problem with the "system on a chip" is that the manufacturers have slightly less flexibility to cherry-pick components. That is, instead of a top-of-of-line CPU (XScale 400) with a best-of-breed mobile video card (this ATI card, for example), and whatever other special coprocessors, the OEM would just have this one "all in one" chip that has integrated coprocessing for I/O, video, sound, etc.
Anyway - I think the higher-end units will tend to stay multi-chip, while cheaper devices will be more likely to go to the system-on-a-chip (which would probably make them smaller also).
The same battle played out on the desktop, with Centaur (remember them?) and Cyrix offering integrated processors (recall the MediaGX processor from Cyrix). They didn't perform all that great, since dedicated video and audio cards outperform anything you can build onto the CPU..
I guess it'll be clearer in another year or so...
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11-15-2002, 07:41 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 513
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ThomasC22
as much as they try to leap frog Nvidia in the Desktop market it just isn't going to happen (Nvidia has much more money to play with)
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A curious statement to make at this point in time, when ATI's on a roll and nVidia has had setbacks...
In fact on the desktop, notebook, handheld, ATI's currently leading...
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11-15-2002, 08:08 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 168
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Woohoo! Go ATI!
I'm guessing this chip will make it's appearance in Toshiba's successor to the e740.
Hmm, why can't the Genio have built in WiFi? That screen looks so much cooler.
Genio's 4" screen with built in WiFi, dual slots, high-cap battery, and this chip could make for a very compelling PocketPC...
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11-15-2002, 08:12 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 513
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Come on, we have all these next-gen CPUs, multimedia coprocessors/DSPs, etc.. We REALLY need a 4" VGA (640x480) Pocket PC!
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11-15-2002, 08:13 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 725
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by st63z
A curious statement to make at this point in time, when ATI's on a roll and nVidia has had setbacks...
In fact on the desktop, notebook, handheld, ATI's currently leading...
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I wouldn't say ATI is currently leading, at least not really. Every test I've seen says that the Geforce4Go outperforms the Mobile Radeon 9000 in the notebook market.
Desktop wise, the Radeon 9700 does outperform the current GeForce4 Ti but the NV30 is, at worst, a couple months away. That puts ATI a full product cycle behind Nvidia in my book.
As for handhelds, this could change things, but to date ATI's chip has been featured in one PocketPC and that device had the worst video performance of all it's competition.
Hardly a winning streak...
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