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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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