Intel’s smart TV efforts got a lift early in the week with a newly updated Atom chip for digital media hubs. The CE5300, nicknamed Berryville, is its first 32-nanometer chip of its kind. Details are short, although it should carry two cores, “advanced” graphics with H.264 B-frame hardware encoding, and support both Hyperthreading (for up to four code threads at once) as well as virtual machines.
The performance should help for “console-level graphics,” although it’s unlikely to be as quick as the highest-end dedicated gaming systems. It’s also pitched as a better pick for video chat and even as part of a larger strategy for the whole house, such as home automation or security.
Amino’s Freedom Live Media Gateway will be one of the first examples of an Atom CE5300-equipped hub and will support Opera TV with WebGL hardware 3D graphics. Following the trouble with Google TV and Intel’s exit from typical retail hardware, most of the focus will be on cable and satellite TV companies like Comcast in the US or Free in France.
