Intel Begins Promoting "Media Adapter" Design
September 9, 2002
By: Mark Hachman
Intel Corp. said it has begun shipping a "digital media adapter" reference design to OEMs in the hopes that they will begin funneling digital media throughout the home.
Under the auspices of Intel's "Extended Wireless PC Initiative", the chip giant will begin selling components to OEMs to enable production of the devices possibly during the second half of 2003. Intel's design is based upon its XScale PXA210 embedded processor.
"Digital media adapters are a PC peripheral that provides access to digital content on PCs from televisions and other consumer devices throughout the home," a spokeswoman for Intel said. She added that Intel has no control over the timing of the adapter's production.
The device will use standard S/PDIF A/V cables to connect the adapter and the television, while using 802.11 networking on the back end to distribute content to the PC. Intel envisions media streaming from the TV to the PC, with a user controlling the technology through a remote control like the one Microsoft has designed, and that Hewlett-Packard has bundled with its Windows Media Center PC. The PC itself would only use the network for control functions, the spokeswoman said.
Intel envisions the adapter accepting JPEG, Windows Media and MP3 content in on the front end and distributing it wirelessly throughout the home using 802.11 wireless protocols. Interestingly, Intel is proposing using the 802.11b protocol for wireless distribution, rather than the 802.11a standard that it has traditionally promoted.
Intel's example will contain 802.11b wireless technology because the standard is "available and interoperable", according to an Intel spokeswoman. Intel also feels that there is ample bandwidth for multiple streams of video, and that there are reliable services that will function with 802.11b, the spokeswoman said.
