Chromatic Research Inc, the Sunnyvale, California-based start-up which has developed the MPact media processor (CI No 3,001) has won its first high-profile design win in the shape of Gateway 2000 Inc. Gateway says it will be using the Mpact processor in the latest model of its Destination large screen PC-television device to run DVD Digital Video Disk applications. The Mpact media processor hardware and software for the system has been developed by Chromatic in conjunction with Toshiba America Electronic Inc, and uses Chromatic’s Mpact/3600 processor in conjunction with a Pentium CPU with MMX multimedia extensions. The hardware and software combination, it says, will rival the quality of standalone DVD players, and the software element will enable future upgrades to support new DVD features as they emerge. While many PCs will soon begin shipping with DVD drives, it is the decoding and acceleration technology that determines the video and audio quality. While Intel Corp is developing technology it says will obviate the need for specialized hardware to run DVD, MPact believes there is plenty of room in the market for no compromise systems, and says its technology is cost-effective enough to compete. The 31 screen Gateway Destination is available now and costs $3,100. Mpact also has DVD deals in place with San Jose, California-based Elecede Technologies Inc, and Richardson, Texas-based STB Systems Inc, both of whom have produced DVD add-in cards.
