ZiiLABS announces 100-core ZMS-40 media processor

ZiiLABS, a subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd, last week revealed new ZMS-40 StemCell Media processor. The media processor, optimized for use with Android operating system, packs four 1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A9 CPU cores along with 96 ZiiLABS' StemCell media processing cores. Using 96 StemCell processors, double the number in the previous generation ZMS-20, it is possible to achieve double the performance, or to run the processors at lower speeds for the same performance, gaining double the power efficiency. This combination of power saving and performance boost gives a number of benefits for hand-held devices based on the ZMS-40.

A 1080p decoder for H-264 HP media can provide ultra-high resolution 3840x1080 video output. 2560x1600 (WQXGA) display resolution and high quality video encoding are also standard, as is support for a future High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) codec.

HEVC (otherwise known as H.265) can, provide double the data compression that H.264 offers. As you might expect, this is computationally more demanding. Targeting the next generation HDTV market, scalable resolutions from 320x240 up to 1080p are supported. Additionally, resolutions up to 7680x4320 are offered, an incredible feat for mobile devices. The 96 StemCell Media processors, with their enhanced performance and power saving benefits, make all this possible.

ZiiLABS' enhanced implementation of Android 4.0 takes some of these features and brings them to the Android desktop. Features ZiiLABS have added to Android include:

ZiiPhoto provides enhanced photo management and display, including 3D display.

ZiiCamera provides real-time 3D photo preview and capture; single-sweep panoramic 40 MP photo capture, as ultra-high resolution; high dynamic range images

ZiiVideo allows advanced video playback, including 1080p WebM support, reverse play, multi-speed play including frame by frame forward and reverse playback; skip to any point in a film using thumbnails to browse the timeline.
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi's Crystalizer and CMSS-3D audio effects.

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Key hardware features include quad 1.5 GHz ARM Cortex AP cores and 96 fully programmable StemCell Media Processing cores. The maximum compute power is 58 GFLOPS. CPU, graphics and media performance are all doubled, as it power efficiency. Maximum resolution is increased to 2560x1600. Up to 2 GB DDR2/3 memory is supported, as is LPDDR2. The memory bus is 64-bits wide.

Software support includes HEVC, H.264, VC1 and WebM codecs. OpenGL ES 2.0 is also supported out of the box. Android NDK supports OpenCL 1.1. Voice recognition and text-to-voice technologies are also standard.