I just received my "dear customer" email from Gennum. While I have been assured we will continue to be able to purchase the GF9450 video chips we are using in the Radiance line, and that there are future products in design at Gennum right now, I do not have any info on whether Sigma plans to add additional products to enhance the GF9450 or just integrate this technology into their other chips.
Whether they bring out new products, or not, is not a major factor for us. We have the ability to change to new improved chips whether they come from Sigma, Silicon Optix, or another company. We feel the Gennum GF9450 is the best overall chip right now, but the playing field is constantly changing. That is why we have have the Gennum chip on a daughter card and do all the work (such as no-ring scaling and calibration) other then deinterlacing and image enhancement in FPGA's. This daughter card can be changed out for a new board without having to completely replace your RadianceXD system. No plans or schedule at this point for a different daughtercard, but I think Sigma buying the imaging portion of Gennum is further confirmation that separating out the video deinterlacing and enhancement hardware on a daughter card makes a lot of sense.
Congratulations to Sigma on the purchase of some great technology. I look forward to hearing how they plan to build on this foundation in the future.
BTW: I should point out that Sigma bought the imaging portion of Gennum, not Gennum itself. Gennum has a lot of other product lines that are not covered under this agreement.