VIA CN400 - Advanced Digital Media Chipset for Smart Digital Entertainment Devices

Optimized to deliver a great Hi-Def™ visual experience, the VIA CN400 provides excellent digital media performance across the highly efficient VIA processor platforms for small form factor/low profile digital entertainment systems and notebooks, as well as next generation HDTV-ready media centers. Integrating a rich feature set and advanced power management, the CN400 extends the capabilities of VIA processor platforms across x86 entertainment devices for the home, vehicle and mobile markets.

Integrating the VIA Graphics UniChrome™ Pro IGP graphics core, the chipset features the Chromotion CE Video Display engine with hardware MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 acceleration. Together with an advanced 2D/3D graphics core, the VIA CN400 offers exceptional playback and streaming of various digital video formats while maintaining ultra low power consumption and exerting minimal load on the processor. The CN400 also features a robust shared memory architecture and support for up to 4GB of DDR400 memory with the acclaimed FastStream64™ memory controller, and a high speed Ultra V-Link interface for a 1GB/s connection to VIA's feature-leading South Bridge options.

To connect to the latest displays, the VIA CN400 integrates a DVI flat panel interface and support for all HDTV formats. For systems with an integrated display, the VIA CN400 provides a DFP interface that supports single or dual channel LVDS encoders, while a dedicated interface is also provided for TV encoders to standard NTSC or PAL TV displays.

Combined with a VIA VT8237R Plus South Bridge, the VIA CN400 offers a comprehensive range of integrated storage, multimedia and connectivity options, including native Serial ATA and V-RAID, with support for RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID+1 arrays, as well as support for VIA Vinyl Audio and high throughput Gigabit Ethernet with the VIA Velocity controller.

Features of VIA CN400

Benefits of VIA CN400

Hi-Def Visual Experience
VIA UniChrome Pro with its optimized shared memory architecture and high definition video support through the Chromotion CE Video Display Engine, offers a breathtaking visual experience for the latest HDTV formats such as Microsoft's® WMV HD.

Flawless Digital Media Playback
VIA UniChrome Pro includes native support for the most popular digital video and audio formats through hardware MPEG-2/4 acceleration and acclaimed VIA Vinyl Audio suite, delivering spectacular playback for entertainment devices.

VIA UniChrome™ Pro Graphics Core
With an internal data flow equivalent to what is available to the latest AGP 8X graphics cards, VIA UniChrome Pro has a separate 128-bit data path between the North Bridge for pixel data flow and texture/command access. Separate 128-bit 2D and 3D graphics engines ensure optimal performance for all multimedia, entertainment, and productivity applications.

Native Serial ATA/RAID Support
The VIA DriveStation™ Controller Suite with native dual channel Serial ATA/RAID controller, provides direct support for two 150MB/s Serial ATA devices and its unique SATAlite™ interface expands support for two additional SATA devices. The V-RAID controller features native RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1* and JBOD, ensuring optimum data integrity and system performance. The user-friendly V-RAID software interface enables easy disk array configuration and management.

Ultra Low Power Consumption
With its unmatched feature set, the CN400 assists in reducing overall system power consumption by reducing the workload on the processor during critical applications such as digital video and audio playback, while consuming a maximum of just 2.5W. Power consumption is further reduced through advanced power management features that vary its power consumption according to workload, essential for conserving battery life in mobile systems.

* RAID Level 0+1 requires four Serial ATA drives; support for the two additional drives can only be implemented with two external Serial ATA ports enabled through a SATALite PHY.

Block Diagram

Key Features

» Supports up to 8GB DDR266/333/400 SDRAM
» High Bandwidth 1GB/Sec 16-bit Ultra V-Link Host Controller supporting V-Map Modular Architecture
» Chromotion CE Video Display engine
» MPEG-4 Acceleration
» MPEG-2 Decoder
» Video De-blocking
» Adaptive De-Interlace
» Full HDTV support up to 1080i / 720p
» Integrated VIA UniChrome Pro Graphics
» Optimized Unified memory Architecture (UMA)
» 200MHz Graphics Engine Clock with separated 128-bit data paths
» 128-bit 2D and 3D Graphics engine
» Two 8-bit Video Capture ports
» Three 12-bit Digital Video ports for connection to TV out, Video Capture In, and external TMDS transmitter
» Support for VIA Vinyl Gold 8-channel Audio Controller & integrated VIA Vinyl 6-channel Audio
» Serial ATA support for up to 4 devices
» Integrated V-RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 0+1*, and JBOD (SATA) support
» Parallel ATA133/100/66 support for up to 4 devices
» Support for up to 8 USB 2.0/USB 1.1 ports
» Support for VIA Velocity Gigabit Ethernet companion controller & Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
» Advanced System Power Management Support

Resources

	Download printer friendly .pdf version
	VIA CN400 press release
	VIA CN400 product brochure
	VIA CN400 image kit