NVIDIA has made it known that the upcoming Zune HD portable media player will be powered by the NVIDIA Tegra processor, offering it exceptional multimedia capabilities that ought to make Apple executives sit up and take notice, even if for a moment. The Zune HD player has already been regarded as the first portable media player to bring together HD-compatible video, a HD Radio receiver, a full-screen Internet browsing experience, an organic light emitting diode touchscreen display and Wi-Fi connectivity, all rolled into a single device. These features ensure that the owner will never run short of entertainment options whenever he/she is on-the-go, with the only thing stopping them would be a lack of juice in the device.

There are eight independent processors within the Tegra that makes it such a powerhouse, offering rich multimedia experiences. Each of these processors were specially designed for a specific class of tasks, where some of the consist of an HD video processor, an audio processor, a graphics processor, and a couple of ARM cores. Depending on the situation, these processors are able to function together or independently in order to maximize battery life while minimizing power consumption.

According to Michael Rayfield, general manager of NVIDIA’s mobile business, “Tegra provides the multimedia muscle in Zune HD. Users will love the device’s new design, amazing multimedia features and HD video out capability. Zune HD is a must-have for anyone looking for the best portable digital media player on the market.”

The Tegra processor is the result of five years of engineering, and finally all that hard work seems to have paid off. We’re pretty sure that the Zune HD will definitely not be the last device to sport the Tegra processor, considering its high performance and low power capabilities that will offer a slew of next generation mobile computing devices unprecedented performance capabilities. Currently, there are around 50 active Tegra processor-based design projects in the works.

Press Release