NXP Semiconductors today announced that its TV550 platform now offers direct support for 21:9 panels running at 60 Hz. NXP will be showing HD movies on a 21:9 display panel at the upcoming 2010 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in January. The demo will show different use cases that are possible with the TV550, such as full screen "true size" movies. In addition, the demo will show how interactive Internet applications such as widgets, newsfeeds, weather and Video on Demand can run in the remaining screen space, alongside a high-definition 16:9 image.

"21:9 widescreen TVs provide an interesting new differentiator to TV OEMs, making it possible to view movies closer to cinema size in the comfort of your living room, or create more space for other applications on the TV," said Vincent Vermeer, product marketing director for digital TV systems, NXP Semiconductors. "The TV550 platform makes it possible for TV manufacturers to offer 21:9 widescreen displays using a single integrated chip, and will help to make 21:9 TVs more affordable and more accessible to consumers in the near future."

The NXP TV550 is a global DTV platform featuring NXP’s proprietary Motion Accurate Picture Processing (MAPP2) technology on a single chip. The TV550 brings HD TV and Internet content with high picture quality on mid-range TVs. Using an efficient 45-nm SoC, the NXP TV550 supports key features such as DVB-T, MPEG4/H.264 decoding, HDMI reception, decoding of digital SD and HD content, CI+ security, and Internet connectivity on TV.

NXP already offers a TV550 reference design that will speed manufacturers’ development and dramatically reduce bill-of-materials for widescreen TVs. Further information on the NXP TV550 platform is available at: http://www.nxp.com/applications/tv/digital_tv/tv550/index.html