Components
Intel introduces StrataFlash memory for digital set-tops
Leading chip manufacturer Intel announced a new innovation in digital set top boxes this week. StrataFlash memory can be used by satellite vendors and cable networks. Companies expected to benefit include Scientific-Atlanta, Motorola Broadband Communications Sector, Thomson multimedia and Hughes Network Systems.
Intel claims to have become the leading flash supplier in the set-top box market segment in the last few years. The company now supplies its set-top box customers with three volt Intel StrataFlash memory. The product is four times faster than traditional flash memory, helping faster code execution code and data storage in handheld devices. Intel also manufactures computers and is actively involved in the networking space.
Digital set-tops are used to provide television feed and electronic program guides. They also help customers browse the Internet. Flash memory allows set-top boxes to store system software, viewer-specific settings and other application programs. These are updated frequently through a digital television broadcast signal, enabling cable operators to forego the hassles of updating information manually. Flash memory is not affected by abrupt power cuts and can retain programmed features and data settings in the event of electricity failure.
Currently, most operators transfer content digitally. This has created a demand for Intel StrataFlash memory at higher densities ranging from 32- to 128-Mbit. In the past, analog set-top boxes used 4- to 8-Mbit flash chips from other flash suppliers. The product is cost-effective as it uses innovative multi-level cell (MLC) technology, claims Intel.
Intel was the first company to introduce MLC technology in volume with Intel StrataFlash memory in 1997. Since then it claims to have shipped more than 2 billion megabits of StrataFlash memory. Intel StrataFlash memory is available in multiple packages. The 56-lead TSOP package is used for easy migration from existing memory devices, while the 64-ball Easy BGA package provides SOP reliability and long-term footprint compatibility and cost in a chip scale package size. The VF BGA and Intel Stacked-CSP packages offer small footprints for wireless applications.
SEOUL: In the eternal battle between gamers demanding lightning-fast refresh rates and professionals craving pixel-perfect clarity, LG Display reckons it has found détente. The South Korean display titan is unveiling the world’s first 27-inch 4K OLED monitor panel that marries an RGB stripe structure with a blistering 240Hz refresh rate—a combination previously thought incompatible, like oil and water or fashion and function.
The breakthrough lies in how the pixels are arranged. RGB stripe structure lines up red, green and blue subpixels in neat rows, banishing the colour bleeding and fringing that plague lesser screens when you park your nose close to the display. It is the difference between reading crisp text and squinting at a rainbow-tinged mess. OLED panels using this method existed before, but they topped out at a sluggish 60Hz—fine for spreadsheets, useless for fragging opponents in first-person shooters.
LG Display’s engineering wizardry changes the game. By cranking the refresh rate to 240Hz whilst maintaining that pristine RGB stripe layout, the company has produced a panel that works equally well for colour-critical design work and twitchy gaming sessions. Better still, the panel incorporates Dynamic Frequency & Resolution technology, letting users toggle between ultra-high-definition at 240Hz and full-HD at a frankly ludicrous 480Hz. That is fast enough to make your eyeballs sweat.
The specs are suitably impressive: 160 pixels per inch for exceptional detail, optimised performance for Windows and font-rendering engines, and colour accuracy that should please the Photoshop brigade. LG Display achieved this by boosting the aperture ratio—the percentage of each pixel that actually emits light—and applying what it coyly describes as “various new technologies.” Translation: years of R&D and probably some sleepless nights.
Existing high-end gaming OLED monitors have relied on RGWB structures (which add a white subpixel) or triangular RGB arrangements. Both work, but neither delivers the sharpness that professionals demand. LG Display’s new stripe pattern is tailored specifically for monitor use, a recognition that staring at a screen from two feet away demands different engineering than watching telly from across the room.
The company is betting big on this technology, targeting the high-end monitor market where it already commands roughly 30 per cent of global OLED panel production. Among gaming OLED panels in mass production, LG Display claims world-leading specs across refresh rate, response time and resolution—a trifecta that sounds like marketing bluster until you check the numbers.
“Technology is the foundation of leadership in the rapidly growing OLED monitor market,” says LG Display head of the large display business unit Lee Hyun-woo. He promises to keep pushing “differentiated technologies compared to competitors”—corporate-speak for staying ahead of Chinese rivals snapping at LG’s heels.
The new panel will debut at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, where LG Display plans to woo customers and expand its lineup. Initial rollout targets high-end gaming and professional monitors, the sweet spot where people actually pay premiums for superior screens rather than settling for whatever came with their laptop.
Whether this technology reshapes the monitor market or remains a niche luxury depends on two things: pricing and production scale. But for now, LG Display has pulled off something rare—a genuine technical leap that solves a real problem. Gamers get their speed, designers get their clarity, and LG gets bragging rights. In the cutthroat world of display tech, that counts as a win.
