Broadcom announced today its third generation Blu-ray chipset solution has been chose by Samsung to power its 2009 lineup of Blu-ray Disc players and home theater systems. Along with the BCM7620 optical front-end solution, Samsung plans to use Broadcom's new BCM7601 Blu-ray decoder solution. Building upon Broadcom's proven BCM7440 system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution, the BCM7601 is smaller in size, uses less power and features enhancements such as full HDMI 1.3 support.

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM - News), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that its third generation Blu-ray chipset solution has been selected by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. to power products in its 2009 lineup of Blu-ray Disc® players and home theater systems. Broadcom's newest chipset solution provides all of the processing functionality to enable playback of the Blu-ray optical disc format, enabling Samsung to introduce next generation Blu-ray Disc players based on this technology as early as the first quarter of 2009.

Announced today is the new Broadcom® BCM7601 Blu-ray decoder solution, which builds upon Broadcom's highly successful and proven BCM7440 system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that has been widely deployed by Samsung in its 2008 Blu-ray Disc players, and the Broadcom BCM7620 optical front-end solution.

The single-chip BCM7601 Blu-ray decoder continues to deliver outstanding quality audio/video and BD-Java performance for which Broadcom is recognized. Based on 65 nanometer process technology that yields high integration, small footprint size and low power consumption, some of the key enhancements integrated in the BCM7601 include full HDMI 1.3 support and enhanced video quality features such as 12-bit/162Mhz video DACs (digital to analog converters), a full 12-bit video pipeline, and full high definition (HD) motion adaptive de-interlacing support for 1080p/60 native output. The BCM7601 continues Broadcom's heritage of integrating complex digital and analog connectivity blocks that include Ethernet, USB 2.0, Serial ATA (SATA) and HDMI.

The BCM7620 single-chip optical front-end solution is built upon proven Blu-ray disc drive technology and incorporates advanced digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to achieve the highest levels of playability, compatibility and performance for all optical media. An integrated analog front-end and SATA interface, coupled with an optimized bill of materials, enables manufacturers to build high performance Blu-ray optical drive solutions at the lowest possible cost. The BCM7620 features optical disc firmware and support tools that provide the capability of reading and writing all industry standard media.

"We are very pleased that Samsung has selected our newest Blu-ray chipset solution for its 2009 designs," said Dan Eiref, Vice President & General Manager of Broadcom's Consumer Electronics line of business. "This is an exciting growth phase in the Blu-ray market and we are pleased to partner with Samsung to introduce a new lineup of players and home theater systems for 2009 with such advanced features as BD Live® and Netflix® instant streaming."