Tensilica In Set-Top Boxes

Tensilica's HiFi 2 Audio Engine is now designed into set-top boxes. See the news about the latest design win for Intel's CE4100 media processor. According to the press release, "This new generation of Amino products will address growing consumer demand for TV-based entertainment from any source - including broadcast, on-demand and open Internet “Over-the-Top” (OTT) services. Using the new Intel® Atom™ Processor CE4100 will enable Amino to develop new types of hybrid/OTT devices that offer unparalleled flexibility and functionality."

Have a Wonderful Christmas

As I'm sitting here on the last working day before Xmas, I'm so happy to be working here at Tensilica and blogging away. There's so much happening that I almost can write an entry every day. I'll be back at work the week between Xmas and New Years, getting ready for CES and other things happening next year.

What's Hot at CES? See what BusinessWeek and GigaOm Think

Look at Android-Driven Home Entertainment. MIPS Technologies and Tensilica just announced a joint system-on-a-chip alliance that's designed to accelerate the deployment of the open-source Android operating system in home entertainment devices. (MIPS already has its own Android distribution focused on the same goals.) At CES the companies will be demonstrating the potential of their joint alliance for everything from Android-based "mobile wireless phones to low-cost digital picture frames, high-definition DTVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray disc players, and more," as they note in their announcement.

ConnX D2 DSP Wins EDN's Top 100 Products of 2009 Award

Only 4 DSPs were cited as the top electronic products of 2009 - and the ConnX D2 was one of them! The ConnX D2 DSP engine delivers outstanding 16-bit fixed point "out of the box" performance on compiled C code, without the need for assembly code optimization. This allows SOC development teams to have greater flexibility in resource allocation as well as the ability to quickly change algorithms. C code optimized with TI C6x or ITU C intrinsic functions compiles directly to the ConnX D2 instruction set, allowing developers to benefit from pre-existing TI and ITU code bases.

MIPS and Tensilica - Together on Android

A joint demo of a MIPS32 processor core integrated with Tensilica's HiFi 2 Audio DSP will be on display in suites that both companies have at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January 7-10, 2010. Together, MIPS and Tensilica will help companies speed the design of new home entertainment and mobile consumer products based on Android.

Xmas gift idea: Denon DVD players

The Denon 2930CI, 3930CI and 5910CI Progressive Scan DVD Audio/Video/Super Audio CD Players use Silicon Optix's Reon-VX HQV processing to deliver very high picture and sound quality. The DVD-5910CI uses the finest 10-bit I/P converter, capable of performing one trillion operations per second, to not only dramatically improve motion detection but also accurately detect and correct lines on a per-pixel basis to effectively avoid "jaggies."

CoWare and Tensilica Deliver Software Development Solution for Multi-Core Tensilica-based Platforms

Coware and Tensilica are collaborating to further enhance the integration of Tensilica's processor models into the CoWare tools to support CoWare's advanced functionality to ease software development on multi-core Tensilica-based SOC designs. The enhanced solution is being used by joint CoWare-Tensilica customers in automotive, consumer and wireless markets.

Xmas gift idea: Nitendo DSi game

A Tensilica processor handles the control functions in the WiFi chip inside each Nitendo DSi game.

Xmas List: AMD ATI Graphics Boards

Get the really good ones with the UVD, a dedicated video decode processing unit. UVD-powered AMD ATI graphics chips include the HD4000 series, the HD3000 series, the HD2000 series, the x1900 series, the x1600 series, and the x1300 series.

Xmas List: HD Radio for your iPhone

Today's gift idea is a simple dongle that adds HD radio to your iPhone - $80 exclusively at Radio Shack, it features Tensilica inside. SEe http://www.insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=1580560&spid=32060 for a review.

Xmas List: HP LaserJet Printers

Priced from $100-$150, the HP LaserJet P1005 and P1006 small-form-factor printers are the ideal gift. What a workhorse (I have one at home). Tensilica inside!

Tensilica Delivers New Design Flow Support for Synopsys’ Galaxy Implementation Platform Technologies

We now provides out-of-the-box automated design flow support for key technologies within Synopsys' Galaxy Implementation Platform, including DC Ultra RTL synthesis and IC Compiler place-and-route, for Tensilica's new Xtensa 8 and Xtensa LX3 dataplane processors (DPUs). This latest design flow provides up to 15% improvement in processor speed, area and power, in addition to faster design closure over previous Synopsys-based design flows, thus offering immediate benefits to Tensilica customers.

Top EDA Companies Endorse Tensilica’s Pin-Level SystemC Models

Cadence, Mentor and Synopsys endorse Tensilica's pin-level SystemC models. The pin-level models are a natural extension of Tensilica's pre-existing transaction-level (TLM) Xtensa SystemC models (XTSC), and allow designers to conduct deep simulations of the interaction between the DPUs and special-function RTL (register-transfer-level) hardware blocks at a cycle-by-cycle pin-accurate level within their existing RTL simulators, and do not require the usage of any specialized hardware/software co-simulation tool.

Enhanced Tools for Dataplane Processor Design and Software Development

Our eighth generation tools further automate customized Xtensa dataplane processor (DPU) design and speed software development. Improvements cover improved compiler technology, better multi-core system simulation and profiling, an upgraded integrated development environment (IDE), and pin-level co-simulation with RTL. These enhancements further strengthen Tensilica's leading position as the highest performance, and most complete, customizable processor core solution for SOC designs.

Microprocessor Report Reviews Xtensa LX3 and Xtensa 8 Processors

See why they conclude: "The Xtensa LX3 establishes a solid foundation for Tensilica’s
data-plane strategy and builds on the stellar performance of the Xtensa LX2. The new features and options will offer developers more flexibility to create optimized designs."

545CK - the Fastest DSP Core

What makes the 545CK so fast according to industry benchmarks? It's a 3-issue VLIW DSP with 8-way SIMD units and an extremely efficient compiler that automatically vectorizes code. If you need a fast DSP, this is the one for you. Or you can create a DSP of your very own to match your application.