Sales of portable video players are rocketing, with newly published market research predicting that the devices will clock up a compound annual growth rate of 84 per cent between 2003 and 2009.

According to ABI Research the latest area of rapid electronic development - following computing in the 1970s and communications in the 1980s and 1990s - is dedicated to entertainment, currently in the form of portable digital audio and video players.

Alan Varghese, ABI Research's director of semiconductor research, said: "Video processing consumes heavy MIPs in order to decode the latest standards. It also requires flexibility to keep pace with constant changes in audio and video standards, and in connectivity technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC and ultrawideband."

He added that next-generation players will need to incorporate elements of digital signal processing architectures that provide upgradeability, together with Application Specific Integrated Circuit-based systems that can deliver high-speed processing at low power.

"Vendors such as Philips Semiconductors seem to understand the problem well," commented Varghese. "With their Nexperia PNX010x series architectures they offer system-on-chip solutions that provide software programmability in conjunction with low-power processing."