Nvidia's MobileMedia Platform is a complete development kit containing all the necessary hardware and software components to bring 3D, video, and high-definition audio support to next-generation mobile devices, according to the company's announcement at COMPUTEX in Taipei.

Touted features include:

• True, fluid digital TV -- high-quality viewing with fluid frame rates, just like broadcast TV.
  
• DVD-quality video -- smooth, jitter-free video for conference calls or streaming web content
  
• High-fidelity surround sound with equalizer effects and cross-fading -- raising the bar for mobile audio
  
• Console-class gaming -- immersive gaming experiences anytime, anywhere
  
• Premier 2D/3D graphics - the blazing performance and visual quality that Nvidia users expect

The problem is that "the broad range of platforms and standards available to manufacturers has made the development of advanced handsets that deliver compelling content a daunting and time-prohibitive task," said Philip Carmack, Nvidia's senior vice president of handheld GPUs. "The Nvidia MobileMedia Platform is the definitive solution to this problem."

Nvidia lists the following key capabilities and specifications for the MobileMedia Platform:

• Pre-integrated framework:
  • digital cameras, camcorders
    
  • PMP -- entertainment phone
    
  • vMobileTV
    
  • VTC -- 3G Video phone
  
  
• Support for industry standards:
  • MPEG4, Reel
    
  • 3D Audio (High bit rate MP3)
    
  • H.264, WMV9
    
  • DVB-H, ISDB-T, DMB
  
  
• High-end graphics:
  • 2.6M triangles/sec
    
  • 200M pixels per second
    
  • 10 Mpixel film-quality imaging

Devices afoot

A number of devices have already been announced that turn out to be based on the Nvidia MobileMedia Platform for Windows Mobile 5.0. These include:

• The Samsung I310 Smartphone with 8 GB memory
  
• The Modeo DVB-H Smartphone with TV, built by HTC
  
• The G10 Wibro gaming device, from iRiver and parent company Reigncom
  

Left to right: Samsung's SGH-i310, Modeo's DVB-H phone, iRiver's G10 gaming device

XScale and i.MX reference designs

Nvidia is working closely with Intel and Freescale on reference designs for Windows Mobile 5.0 devices, and has announced support for the MobileMedia Platform by both companies.

Nvidia's Intel reference design is based Intel's newest processor family (codenamed Monahans), based on a third-generation spin of Intel's XScale microarchitecture that promises processor speeds in excess of 1 GHz along with low power consumption for wireless mobile devices.

The Freescale reference design is based on Freescale Semiconductor's i.MX applications processors. Beyond the standard features found on cell phones and mobile entertainment devices, i.MX processors have earned the Microsoft PlaysForSure certification.

Further information on the Nvidia MobileMedia Platform is available from Nvidia.

---

Related stories:

• Multimedia chip targets mobile phones with TV and more
  
• 3-D multimedia processor targets Windows Mobile smartphones
  
• Mobile multimedia processor adds performance, security
  
• High-integration SoCs boost Windows Mobile video
  
• Multimedia processors, BSP achieve Windows CE 5.0 certification
  
• Sneak preview of a Portable Media Center reference design
  
• Reference platform weds Monahans to Windows CE