IRVINE, Calif., May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that its VideoCore® mobile multimedia processor family now supports the recently open-sourced WebM video format. VideoCore's unique programmable hardware accelerator architecture enables high quality, low power playback of WebM video content at full resolution, supporting even the most advanced smart-feature and smartphone displays. With hardware accelerated mobile WebM support, consumers will be able to playback a broader spectrum of Internet video content on handsets at higher quality and lower power.

Highlights/Key Facts:

• Audio and video encode/decode (codec) technologies continue to evolve toward delivering higher quality sound and video resolution at lower bandwidths. This evolution is particularly vital for supporting multimedia applications on resource-constrained mobile devices and networks. The WebM video format is one example of this evolution.
• Broadcom expects WebM to become a popular video format that will be deployed on a wide variety of consumer, mobile and computer devices for downloading and streaming content over cellular networks.
• More sophisticated codecs tend to require higher levels of processing, especially as video resolution increases. On mobile devices, software or DSP-based codecs suffer from increased power and resolution limits. Hardware-based codecs can deliver higher resolution and lower power, but generally require several years to appear in production handsets.
• The VideoCore processor utilizes a hybrid architecture with programmable hardware accelerators. This allows rapid support of new audio or video codecs, enabling hardware-based codec performance earlier to market, typically within 3 to 6 months of development start.
• The WebM multimedia format is currently in development and expected to be available to VideoCore customers in Q3 2010. Broadcom worked with Google during the definition phase of the VP8 video codec included in WebM, reviewing the architecture's suitability for mobile applications.
• The highly flexible architecture of the Broadcom® BCM2763 VideoCore IV processor will enable it to support WebM video up to WVGA (800 x 640) resolution at 30 frames per second (fps). This enables low power, full resolution WebM video playback on the most sophisticated smartphone displays. VideoCore-enabled smartphones are expected to provide up to 8 hours of WebM playback on the handset display or up to 14 hours of playback on HDTVs connected via an integrated HDMI interface.
• The Broadcom VideoCore processor family currently supports prior generation Google video codecs VP6 and VP7 up to WVGA resolution at 30 fps.
• The BCM2763 is Broadcom's next generation multimedia processor designed in 40 nanometer (nm) CMOS process to deliver industry leading performance and even higher integration, smaller footprint size and lower power consumption than competing mobile multimedia architectures. The BCM2763 features the most advanced mobile HD camcorder and video playback up to 1080p resolution, up to 20 megapixel digital camera and photo image processing, and 1 gigapixel 2D/3D graphics rendering for a world-class mobile gaming experience.

Supporting Quotes:

Mike Jazayeri, Group Product Manager, Google:

"A key factor in the web's success is that its core technologies are open and freely implementable. Video is fundamental to the web experience, and developers and content publishers need an open video format option. We are excited Broadcom is joining a broad coalition of industry leaders supporting the WebM project to bring a new era of open innovation in web video."

Mark Casey, Vice President & General Manager, Broadcom's Mobile Multimedia line of business:

"A high quality mobile multimedia experience will be an important component to the overall success of the WebM video format and we expect widespread adoption. We developed VideoCore specifically for enabling the rapid adoption of power and performance optimized multimedia codecs into mobile devices, which allows us to rapidly enable optimized WebM support to mobile consumers."

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Other Supporting Resources: VideoCore Product Information

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

Broadcom, one of the world's largest fabless communications semiconductor companies, with 2009 revenue of $4.49 billion, holds more than 4,050 U.S. and 1,650 foreign patents, and has more than 7,900 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video, data and multimedia.

A FORTUNE 500® company, Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at www.broadcom.com.

Cautions regarding Forward Looking Statements:

All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and business, management's beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "potential," "continue," "ongoing," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the demand for low power, hardware accelerated WebM playback on mobile devices, our position in that market, and the timing of Broadcom to deliver WebM video format support in the VideoCore mobile multimedia processor family. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with VideoCore mobile multimedia processors include, but are not limited to:

• the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom's mobile multimedia technologies for mobile applications;
• trends in the multimedia processor markets in various geographic regions, including seasonality in sales of consumer products into which our products are incorporated;
• the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order;
• the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales;
• our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; and
• competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products.

Additional factors that may cause Broadcom's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to the list that can be found at http://www.broadcom.com/press/additional_risk_factors/Q22010.php.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement, except as required by law.

Broadcom®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything®, the Connecting everything logo and VideoCore® are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

    Trade Press                  Investor Relations
    Henry Rael                   T. Peter Andrew
    Public Relations Manager     Vice President, Corporate Communications
    949-926-5734                 949-926-5663
    hrael@broadcom.com           andrewtp@broadcom.com

SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Mobile & Wireless