ATI Technologies has licensed high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) receiver technology from Analologix Semiconductor. The technology will allow ATI to integrate capabilities of receiving HDMI signal into its chips used in TV-sets as well as into other products, including those intended for personal computers.

HDMI is the first transport standard to unify digital video, audio, and control data over low-cost cables. It connects digital television, flat panel displays and project systems digitally to multimedia sources: DVD players, high definition set-top boxes, digital video tape recorders, and personal computers. HDMI also includes encryption for premium contents pursuant to the high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) standard. Next-generation consumer electronics is expected to transit to the new interface in the course of the following years.

ATI did not elaborate over the terms of the agreement. The most advanced HDMI receiver product of Analogix is ANX9021 multimedia receiver compliant with HDMI spec 1.1. The ANX9021 embeds the HDCP keys and key selection vectors to reduce manufacturing complexity and system cost. The ANX9021 receives two HDMI data streams and decodes the selected input into digital audio and video data outputs.

The receiver incorporates Analogix's proprietary WideEye architecture, which, according to the developer, has received considerable industry acclaim when introduced in Analogix's 6.25Gb/s Serdes products for telecom and datacom applications. The ANX9021 can receive and output up to eight digital audio channels at up to 192kHz sampling rate, making it a suitable component for integrated home theaters and high definition televisions. The device The device supports direct connections to a wide selection of audio DACs through industry standard I2S or S/PDIF interfaces.

Currently ATI supplies digital TV-set (DTV) makers a plethora of different processors and chips, including Xilleon, highly integrated system-on-chip suitable for a range of digital devices including set-top boxes, DTVs, home media gateways, and TV-enabled webpads.

The design of Xillion 220 integrates a high speed MIPS microprocessor, graphics, video, audio, conditional access, USB, EIDE, PCI, memory controller, and a host of other I/O capabilities. To complete the design of many consumer devices, the only components that need to be added are tuners, demodulators, modems, and memory.