If you're of the mind that a dual format HD DVD/Blu-ray player is the best way to
hedge your bets in the format war, your choices are pretty
few and
far between. With any luck,
Horizon Semiconductor's Hz7220 decoding system-on-a-chip will help bring more dual format players to the market. Sure, there's a lot
more to engineering a dual-format HD player than just the decoding functions, but making all the decoding available in a single package makes the prospect a lot more attractive to potential ODMs and OEMs. The Hz7220 has a feature list that hits all the right marks, including:
H.264;
VC-1; MPEG-2; Thomson
Film Grain Technology;
DTS-HD; Dolby
TrueHD;
HDi;
BD-J; DVI/HDMI+
HDCP; and 1394+
DTCP. To jump start the flood of dual format players we're hoping for, Horizon is also making a reference design kit available. No word on pricing, but we don't care -- just show us some dual format players!
