ESS Technology, Inc.

SAM0241-052101

1

ES4408

DVD Processor

Product Brief

DESCRIPTION

The ES4408 Processor is a single-chip solution for a Digital

Versatile Disc (DVD) player that integrates MPEG video

decoding, DVD system navigation, Content Scrambling System

(CSS), and Dolby™ Digital (AC-3) and MPEG audio decoding.

The fully programmable ES4408 is based on a proprietary ESS

architecture. It offers the best feature set in comparison to any

currently existing DVD chip, and a glueless interface to various

peripheral components. The ES4408 is the most cost effective

solution in its class with an integration level and quality that set

new benchmarks.

The ES4408 processor is capable of decoding Dolby™ Digital

(AC-3) up to 5.1 channels or MPEG audio up to 7.1 channels

simultaneously with MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video. For embedded

applications, the ES4408’s internal RISC processor can be used

in place of a microcontroller to provide all system control, DVD

system navigation, CSS decryption, and many other features.

On-chip, multi-tap filters provide arbitrary scaling with state of the

art SmartScale™ technology useful for video standards

conversion. SmartStream™ technology from ESS provides video

error concealment and video post-processing, leading to the

highest playability and video quality. Other features included in

the ES4408 are video letterbox display, DVD Sub-Picture

overlay, and On-Screen Display.

The ES4408 provides a glueless 8/16-bit parallel interface to

many DVD servo/loaders. It connects directly with 8/16-bit ROM

and 16-bit SDRAM/EDO. An 8-bit YUV video interface supports

many TV encoders. General purpose auxiliary pins are provided

supports popular audio DACs and ADCs. The ES4408 also

features a direct S/PDIF output. Figure 1 shows a block diagram

of a typical standalone system using the ES4408 with the

glueless SDRAM interface.

The DVD system stream from a DVD disc is passed to the ™

ES4408 through the 8-bit/16-bit parallel host interface. The ™

ES4408 parses the system layer and demultiplexes the audio

audio serial bus to an external audio DAC and then to the

speakers. Video is decoded and output as YUV pixels to an

NTSC or PAL video encoder. System control and housekeeping

functions (keypad and remote control) are also provided on-chip.

FEATURES

VCD 3.0, and Super VideoCD (SVCD)

Video

Step, and Goto supported

control display functions

blending supports karaoke lyric and subtitile display

functions.

Audio

downmix audio output for Dolby™ Pro Logic

Smart Technology

Peripheral

Figure 1 Typical ES4408 System Block Diagram.

™

ES4408

2MByte

SDRAM

DVD drive

EPROM

Panel

Interface

NTSC/PAL

Encoder

Audio

CODEC

TV

MIC

Speakers

Remote Control/

Keypad

Video

Audio