Click to see the 3D glasses
XILINX CHIPS HELP BRING 3D TO HOME THEATERS
IN SENSIO'S AWARD WINNING 3D WIRELESS SYSTEM
Xilinx® Spartan® family of low cost programmable chips
enable
breakthrough 3D Innovation
LAS VEGAS, Nev., January 8, 2004 At the Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) today, Sensio™ and Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), announced
a collaboration that resulted in the breakthrough 3D video processing
technology, SENSIO 3D, winner of the CES 2003 Product Innovation
Award . Sensio credits Xilinx and its programmable chip technology
with enabling the creative design and economic viability of its
SENSIO 3D Video Processing system. The SENSIO system transforms
conventional home theater into a 3D stereoscopic movie experience
that rivals the best theme park experiences, using Xilinx low cost
Spartan programmable chips as its central processing capability.
The Sensio system recently featured as the cover story in Home Theatre
magazine is on display January 8 - 11 in booth number 17226.
Sensio has met with major motion picture studios like MGM, IMAX,
Dreamworks, LightSorm Entertianment and TroubleMaker Studios in
efforts to build up a library of 3D movies under SENSIO 3D DVD.
Sensio plans to have eight new 3D titles available in 2004 for about
$40.00 CAN each. The Sensio system, consisting of a 17x 6.25-inch
rack-style component compatible with commercial DVD and digital
TV systems -- and the accompanying LCD-based wireless viewing glasses,
is based on the processor's ability to alternatively display left
and right stereo images and synchronously communicate to the shutters
in the viewing glasses. The left-eye image and the right-eye image
alternate every sixtieth of a second, creating the 3D effect for
the viewer. Because objects can appear to be behind and in front
of the screen, or shoot right through the audience, the screen itself
virtually disappears, bringing the viewer directly into the heart
of the action.
Xilinx Gains Traction in Consumer Space
Sensio is among a growing number of consumer product manufacturers
to realize the competitive advantage afforded by Xilinx's low-cost
programmable chips, versus traditional ASIC technology. Xilinx attributes
its recent record-breaking gain to its focused market diversification
efforts and the broad adoption of its low cost Spartan Series FPGAs
in high-volume consumer applications.
"Xilinx FPGA technology is helping to shape the future of the
digital age by harnessing the flexibility of a programmable device
at cost points ideal for consumer products," said Clay Johnson,
vice president and general manager of the General Products division
at Xilinx. "Sensio's innovative application of our technology
is a perfect example of our efforts in bringing the digital age
to the consumer market."
Programmable approach from the start
Product developers at Sensio, a start-up based in Montreal, Quebec,
were familiar with Xilinx technology from previous university research.
Sensio considered the trade-offs between FPGA and ASIC implementations
and ultimately decided that Xilinx programmable chips provided the
superior price/performance and quality advantages, plus the added
benefit of enhanced flexibility.
"By combining low cost, high performance, and a drastically
reduced time-to-market advantage, Xilinx programmable chips provided
the ideal platform for our 3D video processing system," said
Pierre-Hugues Routhier, vice president of engineering at Sensio.
About Xilinx Low Cost FPGAs
Xilinx first shipped the Spartan-3 family in March 2003 as the world's
first and only FPGA utilizing 90nm process technology. The Spartan-3
platform is the world's lowest cost FPGA with unrivaled price points,
starting at under $2.95*. Already, the Spartan Series is the world's
most successful low-cost FPGA family in its class with over 11,000
customers worldwide. Since the introduction of the Spartan Series
in 1998, the company has shipped more than 60 million devices. By
continuing to set new price-density standards for the FPGA industry,
Xilinx has dramatically narrowed the price-performance gap between
programmable and fixed logic. This has driven Spartan-3 device adoption
further into higher volume consumer applications and hastened the
decline of ASIC designs.
About Sensio
Founded in 1999, SENSIO is a privately-owned company that develops
and markets avant-garde technologies that offer the most advanced
and immersive movie theatre experience to home viewers. This first
product derived from SENSIO's research and development effort is
SENSIOTM 3D, a revolutionary video processor transforming the conventional
home theatre into a 3D stereoscopic movie experience. SENSIO's head
office is in Montreal. Additional information about Sensio can be
found at www.sensio.tv.
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic
solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.
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*250K units, end of 2004
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