It's been a long time, but Motorola has announced its first consumer product based around VM Labs' Project X Media Processor. Blackbird, as it's called, combines the power of a network PC with a consumer electronics device/digital home theater system in one.

　　According to Motorola, it "is the first open platform to support interactive 3D graphics, Java, MPEG digital video, high-fidelity audio, Internet access, electronic commerce, and broadband networking in a single integrated unit."

　　Under the hood, two major system components do the dirty work - a Motorola PowerPC and VM Labs' Project X Media Processor. Coupled with RAM configurations of between 8-32MB of DRAM and 2-16MB of programmable ROM, the system offers third-party OEMs a variety of configurations and uses. This is a consumer electronics device, and Motorola says it will be as simple to use as a standard VCR, yet yield stunning output.

　　In addition to providing DVD video and AC-3 Dolby Digital audio, the system offers a wide range of connectivity options, making it a competitor to Microsoft's WebTV. What will be of interest to video gamers in particular are the fully released Project X specs, which have been kept secret until now:

　　Processing performance - over 1,500 MIPS - 216 Million 32-Bit Multiply-Accumulate operations per Second - 864 Million 16-bit Multiply-accumulate operations per Second - 13.5 Million (4x4) x (4x1) Matrix Transformations per Second (32-Bit Elements)

　　2D/3D Graphics - 16 Million Colors - Anti-Aliased, scaled fonts - Alpha Blending With 256 Levels of Transparency - Primitive 2-D Drawing Functions (Line, Rectangle, Ellipse, Arc, Polygon, Bitblit) - Gouraud and Phong Shading - Geometry Transformation, Clipping, Culling, and Rendering - Texture Mapping with Bi-Linear and Tri-Linear Texture Filtering - MIP-Mapping, Z Buffering - Advanced rendering algorithms including ray tracing, voxel rendering, Parametric Modeling, Procedural textures, intelligent caching

　　Audio - 32 voice wavetable synthesizer - Invision CybersoundTM full MIDI sample set - Reverb, Chorus, 3D spatialization, PrologicTM - ADPCM and PCM sample playback

　　DVD - DVD book, VideoCD, CD-DA, DVD Audio compatible - MPEG-1, MPEG-2 standards - Subpicture decode - Smooth shuttle slow and fast forward and rewind, zoom - AC-3, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Linear PCM, DVD Audio (DTS planned) - 3D Spatialization - 16 million colors user interface, transparent overlays, PiP

　　Native applications - Broad portfolio of Project X DVD and Downloadable video games - Multi-user/networked games - Two game controller ports, supporting up to 256 controllers

　　VM Labs was unavailable for comment, but it is thought that this announcement is the culmination of the company's work on Project X, and that the companies thought to already have licensed Project X technology will be Blackbird-type units, although it's not confirmed whether or not this is the case.

　　During September and October Motorola will make more announcements regarding the technology, distribution, manufacturing, and integration partners. It's expected that these will include the OEMs previously named by VM Labs - RCA and Thompson Electronics.

　　Production of the first Blackbird units will begin during the fourth quarter and will ship during the first quarter of 1999.

　　We'll have more on Blackbird and Project X as it develops.