RMI SOLUTIONS for Home Media Players

(Download RMI HMP Solution Brief)

The Digital Photo Frame Evolution

The Digital Photo Frame (DPF) market has experienced explosive growth over the last two years and many consumer electronics manufacturers have been able to capitalize on this once nascent product category. DPF products have traditionally been segmented by screen size and price with little other differentiation. But as the product category matures, market forces will require manufacturers to add new functionality and increased performance in order to remain competitive. These new features are driving an evolution in this category, as manufacturers look to differentiate their products.

This vision of an advanced, connected, media rich DPF is culminating into the Home Media Player.

Home Media Player: A Portal to New Applications

The evolution of the traditional Digital Photo Frame into the Home Media Player (HMP) has already begun with the addition of wireless connectivity (WiFi) to the DPF category. However, the cornerstone of differentiation rests upon the performance and capabilities of the underlying processor. With the combination of internet connectivity and Alchemy media processors, the following features are now possible:

• Streaming IP radio, D1-quality video, and IPTV from popular websites like YouTube™, Hulu™, and Joost™
• VoIP and video chat calls
• Gadget and widget services for on-demand content such as weather, sports, news, traffic, finance, and more
• Interface to social networking sites (Web 2.0)
• Online photo and video sharing from popular content sharing sites
• Email/Instant messaging/SMS/MMS/RSS reader
• TV reception
• Peer-to-peer (frame-to-frame) content sharing and communication

RMI HMP Solution Overview

RMI’s Alchemy-based™ Home Media Player solution offers original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) a faster time to market, lower system cost, and the configurability and performance required to develop market-leading Home Media Players with advanced features. The RMI® solution leverages the power-optimized RMI Alchemy™ Au1200™ series of connected media processors giving OEMs and original design manufacturers (ODMs) the flexibility and the tools necessary to develop and deliver a complete high performance, connected HMP system.

Turnkey Home Media Player Solution

RMI’s Home Media Player Reference Design Kit is a complete turnkey solution including a reference design board, software board support package (BSP), hardware schematics, documentation, and advanced HMP applications.

RMI Reference Design Hardware

The HMP™ Reference Design Board is based on the RMI Alchemy Au1250™ processor. This high performance processor, running at 700MHz, provides enough processing horsepower to easily handle even the most challenging HMP applications. The reference design includes all the essential hardware functionality including media card interfaces for SD/MMC/MS/xD/CF and a USB flash stick. Additionally, the design also comprehends an audio codec for stereo speakers, a touch screen interface, and WiFi connectivity. Flash memory and DDR2 RAM are plentiful for both the user (media storage) and the application space.

RMI Board Support Package

The HMP Reference Design Kit includes a complete board support package (BSP) based on Linux. The BSP includes the kernel, file system, and tool chain, along with driver support for all peripherals. In addition, the BSP includes a complete media stack for high quality D1 resolution video playback of the internet’s most popular audio and video formats including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV, DivX, and Xvid.

Ecosystem of Partners Accelerate Time-to-Market

RMI has established a broad ecosystem of partnerships to enable OEMs to quickly take their HMP vision to market. This ecosystem includes both ODMs as well as Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) with a range of capabilities and solutions well suited for the HMP and related consumer media markets.

Bring an HMP Product to Market NOW!

The HMP Solution from RMI is ideally suited to OEMs requiring a rapid and affordable way to bring their innovative HMP products to market. Developers and designers can take full advantage of the RMI Reference Design Kit to:

• Obtain the schematics and Gerber files for the reference board
• Make any additional hardware selections, if desired
• Configure and brand the user interface
• Add or remove applications
• Select the industrial design
• Complete any relevant certifications

RMI will work directly with customers on their specific solution, recommending and managing ODMs who are familiar with HMP designs and understand the bill-of-materials (BOM) requirements for Home Media Players. RMI will also provide the complete BOM for the reference design kit to accelerate the design and development phase, as well as provide support through the ramp into production.

Leading the Evolution

With its total Home Media Player solution, RMI can help OEMs who seek to lead the evolution of the digital photo frame market into the advanced, feature-rich Home Media Player market.