Texas Instruments Inc. has been certified by Microsoft Corp. to make chips for devices that record and play audio and video on the Windows Media 9 format, the companies plan to announce today.

The chips can be used to run television set-top boxes that record video to a hard drive or play music or video streamed from a personal computer on a network. Those devices will be hot sellers in the next few years as more music and video content becomes digital, technology analysts say.

Dallas-based TI and competing chipmakers have been making chips for years for portable devices that can play Windows Media files. But TI is the first company to have both encoding and decoding certification from Microsoft.

That means TI's chips are the only ones of their kind that device makers can use to record in the Windows Media format. That distinction could become important as television manufacturers look for ways to let consumers digitally record TV shows without being able to distribute them in violation of copyrights.

Microsoft has championed the Windows Media 9 format's ability to limit illegal copying by giving audio and video content makers the ability to limit how files are used.

Rival chipmakers are expected to seek certification from Microsoft and challenge TI.

"TI's the first out of the gate," said Will Strauss, president of research firm Forward Concepts Co.

By: DocMemory
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