Some time ago, I talked about my wish to build an Intel Atom-based HD DVR, and it turns out I am not the only one.
Engadget is reporting that Intel just announced CE4100 at IDF2009. It’s an Intel Atom-based media processor that can decode two 1080p streams. It has a brother called CE3100 which has Pentium M as the core instead.
Of course, it’s a different matter for a DIY’er like me to get a hold of CE4100 since it is marketed as a media processor for cable boxes and Blu-ray players. It’s probably sold in volume, mainly to consumer electronics manufacturers.
Intel is trying to push itself and its PC manufacturers into the consumer electronics market, and CE4100 and CE3100 seem to be good attempts at it. I believe it’s going to be relatively new manufacturers (instead of the established consumer electronics companies such as Samsung and Sony) who will bring out products based on these media processors. And a lot of them will be traditionally PC hardware/OEM manufacturers.
And that’s where my hope is. I am hoping that manufacturers such as Zotac (which makes ION motherboards), ASUS (which makes ION motherboards and desktops), ASRock (which makes ION desktops) and Acer (which makes ION desktops), would come out with a CE4100-based motherboard or a desktop (with a PCIe slot for ATSC tuners).
I think Intel’s intent is to run Moblin on CE4100/CE3100. However, since the core is an x86 one, I am sure Windows 7 can be made to run.
It’s going to be very interesting…
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