DIGITAL'S 21130 CHIP DELIVERS HIGH-RESOLUTION, FULL-SCREEN VIDEO AND
GRAPHICS PERFORMANCE FOR PCs

AccuVideo Technology Enables Advanced Video Features...

MAYNARD, Mass. -- March 6, 1995 -- Digital Equipment Corporation today
announced a new, PCI-based video and graphics accelerator for CISC and
RISC PCs that delivers high-performance video and graphics from a single
chip. The new DECchip 21130 controller is intended for PCs running
Windows, Windows NT and OS/2 applications that use graphics and
multimedia, including full- motion video playback, for training,
"edutainment" and games, plus multimedia development and video
teleconferencing.

Ed Caldwell, vice president, Digital Semiconductor (a Digital Equipment
Corporation business), said, "The new 21130 controller is a valuable
addition to our product portfolio as a merchant vendor. It is the latest
in a growing family of PCI-based chips from Digital Semiconductor for the
multimedia market."

Convergence of Graphics and Video

"The proliferation of CDROM titles and the rise of multimedia and
teleconferencing are driving the convergence of graphics and video on the
desktop," said Frank T. Schapfel, graphics and multimedia product manager
for Digital Semiconductor. "Users are accustomed to high-speed drawing in
PC graphics applications. Now they are demanding video performance of
television quality along with high-speed graphics, and they want it at
mainstream PC prices.

"The 21130 is the first combined video and graphics chip to offer high
resolution, full-screen video without sacrificing graphics performance,"
Schapfel added.

Industry analyst Martin Reynolds of Dataquest, Inc., said, "The 21130
brings together all of the attributes for a next- generation graphics
chip: performance, integration and CPU- assisted MPEG decompression. Its
full feature set puts it amongst the leaders in graphics controllers."

Advanced Video Features

The 21130 controller achieves balanced, high-speed graphics and video
performance at low implementation cost. Features include full-screen,
30-frames-per-second Indeo, Cinepak or MPEG1 video playback without
additional decoding hardware; multiple windows and arbitrary window
placement; graphics and video window overlays. Resolutions up to
1280x1024, using 2MB of off-the- shelf, extended-data-out (EDO) DRAM frame
buffer memory, support large-screen displays without blockiness or dropped
frames. The 21130 also facilitates low-cost system implementation with its
integration of a high-performance, 135MHz RAMDAC.

Acting as a PCI bus master, the 21130 chip performs DMA read operations to
"pull" video data across the local bus, relieving the CPU of data transfer
and bus control tasks and boosting CPU performance of software
compression-decompression (codec) algorithms by more than 20 percent.

As a graphics accelerator, the chip delivers 35 million Winmarks (4.0) on a
90MHz Pentium system. Its 64-bit frame buffer memory interface
accommodates 1, 2, and 4MB EDO DRAMs to support screen resolutions up to
1280x1024 in 64,000 colors. The 32-bit PCI bus interface ensures delivery
of both graphics and video data without the need for extraneous buses.

AccuVideo Technology Balances Performance

The 21130 accelerator uses a shared frame buffer memory for both video and
graphics data to achieve cost savings and simplify design for add-in card
and system manufacturers. The 21130 scales and filters video data in
16-bits-per-pixel (16bpp) format. Digital's patent-pending AccuVideo
imaging technology converts the data into 8bpp format while preserving the
appearance of a 64K color palette for realistic color rendition. Video and
graphics data are then stored in and displayed from the DRAM shared frame
buffer, enabling smooth, full-motion video.

Gary Kellar, director of video products marketing at STB Systems, Inc.,
said, "STB recognizes that video acceleration is becoming a critical
feature that end users are requiring on future systems. Our evaluation of
AccuVideo on the 21130 shows that it gives end users superior video
playback resolution without sacrificing color depth."

Pricing, Availability

The DECchip 21130 video and graphics accelerator is priced at $34.10 in
quantities of 5,000. Samples will be available in April and volume
production is scheduled to begin in June. An evaluation board to assist
system and card manufacturers in developing video and graphics
applications, the 21A30-OA, is priced at $495 and will be available in
April.

Digital Semiconductor, a Digital Equipment Corporation business
headquartered in Hudson, Massachusetts, designs, manufactures and markets
semiconductor products including Alpha microprocessors and PCI-based
peripheral chips. PCI products include networking chips, bridge chips, and
graphics/multimedia accelerators that offer industry leading performance
and functionality for all major platforms, both CISC and RISC. Digital
Semiconductor operates design centers in Hudson, Palo Alto, California;
Austin, Texas; and Jerusalem, Israel. Semiconductor products are
manufactured at facilities in Hudson and South Queensferry, Scotland.
Digital Semiconductor sells its products worldwide through its direct
sales force and semiconductor distribution channels.

Digital Equipment Corporation is the world's leader in open client/server
solutions from personal computing to integrated worldwide information
systems. Digital's scalable Alpha platforms, storage, networking, software
and services, together with industry- focused solutions from business
partners, help organizations compete and win in today's global
marketplace.

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