TI's High-Rez FireWire Device

Texas Instruments has released a new chip that advances the performance of high-resolution digital audio while limiting consumers' ability to enjoy it.

This seemingly paradoxical situation is part of the design of the TSB43CA43A, a second-generation device in the company's "iceLynx" family of products. The TSB43CA43A (also called the "iceLynx Micro") enables the transfer of high sample-rate digital audio data between A/V receivers and DVD-audio/Super Audio CD players—including multichannel material—using only a single IEEE 1394 FireWire cable.

It's a big leap in installation elegance, but the iceLynx Micro may be a source of frustration for audiophiles, many of whom will be dismayed to discover that it limits accessible digital outputs to the 16-bit/44.1kHz standard of "Red Book" CD. Adhering to the CPPM (Content Protection for Pre-Recorded Media) licensing requirement, TI's latest creation offers support for 24-bit/192kHz DVD-Audio and one-bit/2.86MGHz SACD (both two-channel and multichannel) as well as S/PDIF and MPEG2 data streams. The resolution level is protected by avoiding multiple down- and up-conversions of the data rate, or digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversions, as happens with some transmission schemes. "Content can be sent digitally across the 1394 interface with no conversion to analog and no down-mixing or down-sampling required," reads a TI announcement. (In addition, 1394 connections carry control signals, eliminating the need for separate remote controls for each piece of equipment in an A/V system.)

Maintaining the integrity of high-rate data streams would seem to bode well for playback-only applications. But what if you want to experiment with an external DAC, or feed high-rez data to a digital recorder? You'll be out of luck if your player uses the iceLynx Micro, which protects copyrighted material from unauthorized reproduction by the inclusion of DTCP (Digital Transfer Content Protection) technology, sometimes known as "5C". For the moment, forget FireWire-connected DACs. No high-resolution compilation recordings will be possible if your equipment uses this chip.

They might be possible if the player uses TI's TSB43CB43A, a "pin-compatible version of the device . . . without the content protection." Buried in the announcement about the iceLynx Micro device is a mention of this copy-protection–free variety. Presumably, this chip can be used in any OEM product that does not have to adhere to CPPM requirements. Both devices are 176-pin chips containing 256 KB of internal program memory and "an embedded 50MHz ARM microprocessor [that] reduces burden on the system CPU by handling the 1394 transaction layer, DTCP authentication and key exchange, and service interrupts." OEM pricing for the new chips is about $15 each in batches of 1000.

The CPPM-approved TSB43CA43A "enables functions of the DTCP specification, whose purpose is to protect entertainment content from illegal copying during transmission and playback," according to the announcement, and appears intended primarily for digital television set-top converter boxes, to appease Hollywood hysteria over the possibility of a feature-film Napster debacle. A cryptographic technique, DTCP has begun to appear in the latest generation of consumer electronics. TI calls the iceLynx Micro "the ideal interface to move MPEG2 data between the set-top box and DTV within a networked entertainment cluster."

TI demonstrated its iceLynx Micro at its suite in the Crowne Plaza Northstar Hotel during the CEDIA Expo in Minneapolis September 25–29. At the same show, Pioneer Corporation debuted the "world's first 1394-enabled DVD player and audio/video receiver," the Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai DVD-Audio and SACD player and Pioneer Elite VSX-49TXi audio/video receiver, both using an integrated 1394a-2000 ("FireWire") link layer controller for the 1394 interface.

The successor to Pioneer's DV-47A, the industry's first universal disc player, the DV-47Ai includes 108MHz/12-bit video processing, progressive scan output, and Legato PROTM, Pioneer's "frequency range expansion technology for better music reproduction." The DV-47Ai supports high resolution digital signals including LPCM (Linear PCM) and DSD (Direct Stream Digital), "as well as offering triple Burr Brown 192kHz/24-bit audio processing, six-channel analog audio output, bass management, Dolby Digital, DTS, and SRS TRU Surround," according to a September 24 announcement. The DV-47Ai will be available in the fall of 2002 at a suggested retail price of $1200.

Corrections: Some of the foregoing is in error, based on a misreading of a Texas Instruments press release. The TSB43CA43A iceLynx Micro does not inherently limit its digital output to the 16-bit/44.1KHz standard of "Red Book" CD, according to TI analog media relations marketing account manager Tom Ballew. It can provide bandwidth-limited outputs if that is what content providers desire (CCPM and DTCP, above), but the chip itself is fully capable of passing any data stream fed to it---including 24bit/192KHz DVD audio and 2.8224-Mhz SACD.

The 1394 device is a "transport mechanism" designed to enable full multichannel data flow over a single cable. "Copy protection is entirely up to content providers," Ballew stated, "The iceLynx Micro can be programmed to copy freely, copy once, or copy never," depending on software instructions contained in the data it is transmitting. "We don't prevent high-resolution recording . . . the iceLynx Micro is a solution, not a barrier, to high-performance audio."

The TSB43CA43A is an open standard that equipment designers and intellectual property managers can use as they wish, Ballew emphasized. "There is no limit on its digital bandwidth; whatever you put in, we put out. High resolution recording is possible, depending on content providers." The TSB43CA43A is what Ballew called a "1384-A" device, capable of a maximum transmission distance of about 4.5 meters. "1394-B" devices are capable of distances up to about 100 meters, making them ideal for local networks, as in recording studios and production houses. A FireWire "translator" can accept 1394-A inputs and output 1394-B signals, he mentioned. The copy-protection-free version of the iceLynx Micro, the TSB43CB43A, is intended primarily for professional applications where copy control is not an issue. We apologize for any confusion. - BW

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