Panasonic has announced that it has developed the first single-chip signal processing LSI for Blu-ray Disc players that can both read the disc and decode the content.
Previously these functions were performed by separate front end and back end LSI in addition to seven external memory chips.
By combining the functionality into one chip, 50 per cent less space is required and 25 per cent energy is saved.
As a result of the single chip solution, manufacturers will be able to make smaller Blu-ray players that consume less energy.
The innovation is also likely to result in cheaper Blu-ray playback devices.
The Panasonic chips support Blu-ray 2.0 standard, MPEG-4 H.264 and VC-1 codecs and high-quality audio, including lossless coded content.
The chip is also able to play back video on two screens and can display 3D graphics.
It also supports CD and DVD playback.
Panasonic expects to start shipping the chips to manufacturers in June 2008.
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