Hardware/Software Combo Eyes Home Gateway Mart

Consisting of an ASIC for DVD players and media processing software for PCs, the MaestroLink hardware/software package is expected to pave the way for development of low-cost home media entertainment gateways. The gateways bridge home DVD players and PCs using either a wired or wireless home network to permit viewing of streamed video, photos, music, games, or Web content on TVs. MaestroLink is said to add less than $10 to the manufacturing cost of a DVD player and to require no major redesign of the systems. All that is needed to add a gateway to DVD player boards is the company's ASIC for providing the DVD player-to-PC connection and an Ethernet PHY IC. No changes to the player's system firmware are needed. The players can automatically detect the presence of the network and server without interfering with the normal playing of a DVD disk. The software element to the DVD home gateway solution, namely the MaestroLink media processing software, enables communications between consumer electronics devices and PC media management application software. Three other companies are also partnering to help bring the solution to market. They include: Mediabolic with its M1 Entertainment Operating Platform for creating networked consumer entertainment products; MedioStream with its real-time MPEG encoding technology; and SecureMedia with its Encryptonite content protection technology. Software development systems for MaestroLink start at $50,000. For more details, contact Jim Chase at OAK TECHNOLOGY INC., Sunnyvale, CA. (408) 523-6785.