Hasta La Gadget!

You can thank the WiFi alliance for a number of things, and soon you can add TDLS to that list. That’s Tunneled Direct Link Setup, if you were wondering, and it’s a standard for creating direct links between devices. If this sounds familiar, that’s understandable, but TDLS has its own tricks, like working in the background of a network to optimize performance, and it can even work over a WiFi Direct connection. For example two compliant devices can measure the signal strength on the network, and determine if a direct link would be better or not. TDLS also allows devices to communicate at the fastest standard available (802.11b / g / n etc.) even if this is superior to that available on the rest of your hardware. As this is a client-based protocol, you won’t need to upgrade your access point either. If this hasn’t got implications for better media streaming written all over it, we don’t know what has. Especially as the certification is available to TVs, tablets, phones, cameras and gaming devices. There’s only a handful of test products sporting the official approval at this time, but with names such as Broadcom, Marvell and Realtek in the mix, it shouldn’t be long before it starts finding its way into front rooms and pockets proper.

Continue reading WiFi alliance begins Tunneled Direct Link Setup certification, hopes to improve media streaming

Filed under: Wireless, Internet

WiFi alliance begins Tunneled Direct Link Setup certification, hopes to improve media streaming originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whenever we see a smartphone optimized for China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA 3G, it usually represents one of two things: it’s either a China-specific variant of a phone we already know, or it’s a local-only model that’s unlikely to ever travel abroad. Marvell has just unveiled a new mobile processor platform that could allow for a lot more globetrotting with those basic designs. The PXA988 is limited to China Mobile’s technology for data, but its PXA986 doppelganger can fit the same slot to offer regular HSPA+ 3G without forcing phone makers back to the drawing board. Both run on a dual-core, 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 at their heart — nothing exciting in mid-2012, although they’re well-enough equipped to capture 1080p video and tout extras like NFC. Only test samples exist today, but there’s a chance we’ll soon see phone designs that are just as much at home in Berlin as they are in Beijing.

Continue reading Marvell PXA988, PXA986 chips support 3G for China, the world without reinventing the wheel (or phone)

Filed under: Cellphones

Marvell PXA988, PXA986 chips support 3G for China, the world without reinventing the wheel (or phone) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OnLive already lets you enjoy the benefits (and sometimes share in the frustrations) of cloud gaming on PC, Mac, and tablets, but today the company announced a deal that will soon see the service coming to Google TVs and Google TV devices. OnLive has partnered with Marvell and plans to use Marvell’s technology to increase the range of its cloud gaming service. The best part? By using Marvell’s tech, OnLive subscribers will be able to access the service on their Google TVs without a console.

Marvell’s ARMADA 1500 HD Media SoC is the star of this announcement. It’s a dual-core CPU with integrated Qdeo video processing technology, capable of more than 6000 Dhrystone MIPS. It also comes with support for 3DTV and full HD streaming to complete the package. Sadly, Marvell has yet to announce which upcoming Google TV devices will utilize the ARMADA 1500, so we’ll have to a while longer for those details to surface.

For the past few years, OnLive has been working hard to make cloud gaming the big new thing. The idea seems to be catching on, with some PC platforms like GamersGate offering streaming demos through Gaikai. Earlier this month, we learned that Sony had purchased Gaikai, so it may not be long before OnLive has some serious competition on consoles. Still, this partnership will make OnLive’s presence in the gaming world that much stronger, so it’s doubtful that the the company is worrying about its competitors (or potential competitors, for that matter) much today.

[via Talk Android]

Marvell and OnLive team up to bring game streaming to Google TV is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Marvell has announced a new SoC that it claims will enable a new generation of Google TVs to come to market. The chip is called the ARMADA 1500 HD Media SoC. The company says the new chip will enable OEMs to deliver immersive home entertainment experiences with Google TV products. The chip recently passed Google’s certification process.

The new SoC is powerful and energy-efficient and designed to be a very affordable. Marvell says that this ARMADA 1500 chip is first ARM-based platform be used by multiple OEMs and certified for Google TV. It uses an ARM v7 compatible PJ4B SMP super-scalar dual-core CPU to enable computer-like processing power. The chip also supports web browsing and Flash.

Marvell says that the chip offers more than 6000 Dhrystone MIPS computing power. The chip also contains a Qdeo video processing chip that supports HD and 3-D video along with providing scaling, noise reduction, de-interlacing, low bit rate Internet video enhancement, and color and contrast enhancements. The chip also features VMeta multiformat video decoding, encoding, and transcoding. VMeta is capable of decoding up to two simultaneous 1080p streams. There’s no indication of when we might see products using the new SoC on the market.

Marvell ARMADA 1500 HD Media SoC to enable new generation of Google TV is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.