einforchips' DVPB-HD

The board is targeted at various applications that need video encoding and/or

decoding capabilities, such as video conferencing, surveillance, video broadcast, video

transcoding, set-top-box, DVR/PVR, digital media adaptor and medical imaging devices.

DVPB-HD is a small foot-print board (4.2x6.2") that is bundled with a software package

consisting board support package (BSP), software development kit (SDK) framework

and demo application, allowing systems and application engineers to easily develop and

rapidly prototype their application.

DVPB-HD is also bundled with a boot-loader and software utilities.

The detail info can be found at

http://www.einfochips.com/download/DVPB-HD-Brochure-Sep08.pdf

Software Features

• The software package enables developers re-target their applications developed on TMDXEVM6467 to DVPB-HD. It consists of:
  • U-Boot Bootloader
  • Test utilities (approximately 8) and sample codes
  • Demo application for 4 Channel Video/Audio Streaming
  • Optional Device Drivers and Firmware for the board
• Deliverables
  • Hardware
    • Standard Deliverables:
      • DVPB-HD Board with mounting studs
      • Video- Add on module to interface NTSC/PAL camera with DVPB-HD board
      • Input - 4 Channels CVBS & Output - 2 BT656 Channels
      • Power Adapter (12V@ 2Amps)
      • UART standard cross-over cable
    • Optional Deliverables:
      • PCI to PCI-Express edge connector card
      • Also available in Aluminum enclosure
  • Software
    • Standard Deliverables:
      1. Board Support Package (BSP):
         • Linux Kernel with drivers of peripherals supported on DVPB-HD board
         • Optimized Linux File System
         • U-boot
         • Test Utilities of each peripheral
      2. SDK Framework:
         • Video Module
         • Audio Module
         • Codec Module (H.264 & MPEG4 Video Codec's and G.711 Audio Codec's)
         • Streaming Module
      3. Demo Application:
         • Channel Video/Audio Streaming Application
    • Optional Deliverables:
      1. Board Support Package (BSP):
         • Hard-Disk Driver (HDD)
         • PCI Driver
      2. SDK Framework:
         • VDCE Module to support downscaling, conversion from 4:2:2 to 4:2:0
         • TISF Module to support transcoding applications
      3. Demo Application:
         • Digital Video Recorder (DVR) Application

Board Details
Board size:	6.2 x 4.2
# of layers:	12
# of components / # of pins:	1067 / 3894
Layout density:	0.0936
# of via / smallest via	3098 /18D10

• 256MB DDR2 Memory
• Major Interfaces: HD Video Input / Output, HDMI 1.3, Audio I/O, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, RS232, RS485, USB 2.0, VLYNQ, UART / IrDA /CIR, HDD, RTC, PCI 2.3, SPI and GPIO
• Input power 12V DC

• 
  

  
  

dicas' New H.264 Encoding Algorithm to Lower bitrate 30%

http://www.streamingmedia.com/press/view.asp?id=13146

dicasVICO enriches picture quality by imitating the human visual system

Berlin, Germany (June 12, 2009) -

dicas, the German MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoding specialist, has unveiled a new revolutionary quality enhancing algorithm called dicasVICO. In order to attain the same picture quality like current H.264 encoders, streams modulated with dicasVICO get by on bit rates being lower by 30 per cent. dicasVICO helps broadcasters and providers of WebTV, MobileTV and IPTV services to overcome bandwidth restrictions and dramatically enhance the picture quality of their programs.

dicasVICO allows for a more efficient use of the available transport capacity by optimising the distribution of bits among the image sections of a video picture during the encoding process. Unlike most current encoders, the algorithm by dicas is not based on prevalent statistical measures but on the properties of the human visual system.

“Most H.264 encoders use variance algorithms to modulate the quantiser”, explains Klaas Schüür, co-founder and CTO at dicas. “Although you may get great measuring results by applying complex operations based on rate distortion, this does not reflect the latest state of scientific knowledge on the visual perception of man.”

dicasVICO, on the contrary, takes advantage of the gradual fault tolerance of the human visual system against varying optical phenomena. For example the human brain hardly notices errors occurring in high-frequency sections, i.e. fast movements or fine-textured patterns, whereas it is very attentive towards errors within regular structures or slow-motion sections.

To what extent a higher encoding accuracy is applied on the particular image sections is controlled by dicasVICO in accordance to the picture’s visual complexity. Such a selective quantisation may lead to lower statistical results, especially when current technical measurement standards like signal-to-noise-ratio (PSNR) are used. Mere statistical measuring methods, however, are hardly significant concerning the subjective picture quality.

Perception tests show that the visual complexity approach has an enormous impact on how a video stream is perceived by its viewers. Subjectively the stream with dicasVICO algorithm applied on appears to be much more brilliant and clearer. “Especially at low bit rates videos encoded with dicasVICO show substantially less artefacts”, says Schüür. dicasVICO is now part of all dicas encoder hardware products and mpegable software packages.

DICAS
Editorial Contact:
Lars Vollmar
+49 30 850 743 04
contact@dicas.de

Fujitsu's HD MB86H55 and MB86H56

The detail spec can be found in

http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/EDG/binary/pdf/catalogs/a04000271e.pdf

http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fme/mpeg/factsheet_mb86H55_mb86H56.pdf

http://192.240.0.102/downloads/MICRO/fma/pdf/MB86H55_56_FactSheet__FINAL1208.pdf

http://img.jp.fujitsu.com/downloads/jp/jed/fml-en/release/20081030.pdf

The MB86H55 features 500mW power consumption during full HD encoding, including the built-in memory.

The MB86H56 offers processing of full HD video at 60 frames-per-second (progressive) '60p'*2, to improve picture quality.

These products have built-in memory and measure 15 x 15mm, allowing them to record, play and transmit HD video on portable devices such as digital camcorders and on home networked appliances, commercial broadcast equipment and security cameras.

The H.264 compression format has become a commonly used format for digital camcorders, providing longer recording times than the MPEG-2 compression format.

Both products contain one 512Mb built-in memory (FCRAM*3) and an embedded scaler for zooming or down-scaling the picture.

In units of 16-bit x 32 lines, pictures can be zoomed by a maximum of six times or down-scaled to 1/6, enabling flexible accommodation of the requirements for picture quality, resolution and bit-rate depending on the application.

There is a 16-bit parallel interface for the host interface to connect to an external CPU and a TS interface as the video stream interface.

A serial interface makes a reduction of pins for the host interface possible.

A PCI interface allows connection to a PC or a recorder.

Connection to external ROM is also possible, allowing high-speed boot for devices that feature these CODECs.

HD surveillance camera design runs homespun Linux

http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/HD-surveillance-camera-design-runs-homespun-Linux/

Marseilles, France-based Nexvision has announced a network IP (Internet protocol) video camera design that incorporates the Texas Instruments (TI) DaVinci TMS320DM6467 processor. The Linux-based CamHD hardware/software reference design is equipped with an Altera Cyclone III FPGA (field-programmable gate array), and boasts a...

claimed 1080P HD resolution.

(Click for larger view of the CamHD reference design)

The Nexvision CamHD offers 30 frames per second (fps) HD video using the H264-MP codec, claims Nexvision. It is said to support either full 1080P (2 megapixels at 30fps) or X-HD (5 megapixels at 12fps, or 8 megapixels at 7fps). The CamHD also supports HDMI output and Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) operation.

Announced in December, TI's media-savvy TMS320DM6467 system-on-chip (SoC) combines a 297MHz ARM9 core with a 600MHz C64+ digital signal processor (DSP). The single-chip, 90nm-process SoC tunes core DaVinci DSP functions to the task of HD transcoding, says TI. For example, it can translate between video codecs, bit rates, and resolutions, as video is moved between different devices on home media networks, TI claims.


TI DM6467 block diagram
(Click to enlarge)
The on-board Altera Cyclone III FPGA is equipped with two DDR2 SDRAM banks. The FPGA is dedicated to 3D video enhancement and a picture noise reduction algorithm that is said to incorporate Nexvision IP (intellectual property).

The reference design offers a 110 megapixels per second processing pipeline, 12-bit color exposition, and 3D temporal filtering and contrast enhancement, says Nexvision. Other features include touted support for motion JPEG, multiple exposure blending, and "super resolution over multiple video sensor acquisition." The CamHD provides full-duplex audio, and is said to offer support for both immersive and partial views.


Simplified block diagram of CamHD
(Click to enlarge)
The DM6467 is available with a development board and software stack based on MontaVista Linux, but Nexvision appears to use a homegrown Linux distribution instead. The CamHD comes with an onboard streaming server, as well as an optional onboard video analysis framework for automated video surveillance. The framework is said to support motion detection, fire detection, traffic surveillance, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), intelligent behavior recognition, and other surveillance tasks.

The CamHD ships with remote management software that is said to be compatible with any H264 RTP/RTSP compliant client, including Nexvision's own NexRMC (Nexvision Remote Media Center) software. NexRMC supports CamHD-specific features such as X-HDTM resolution, sensor monitoring, firewall pass-through, and video content search, says the company.

Hardware specs for the CamHD include:

• Processor -- TI DaVinciTMS320DM6467 SoC
  
• FPGA -- Altera Cyclone III
  
• Memory -- 128MB DDR2 SDRAM (up to 256MB); 16MB NOR flash (upgradeable to 64MB)
  
• Ethernet -- 1 x gigabit Ethernet
  
• WiFi -- 802.11n (optional)
  
• USB -- 1 x USB 2.0
• Other I/O:
  • RS232 (RX/TX) plus RS485 (half-duplex)
    
  • I2C and SPI bus
    
  • RS232/JTAG
    
  • 2 x opto-coupled input
    
  • 2 x general purposes on/off switch
    
  • 1 x switch button
    
  • HDMI 1.3/DVI 1.0 compliant with 19-pin connector
• Audio -- 3W speaker; Line Out; microphone; stereo Line In
  
• CMOS image sensor -- progressive scan (color) with 2, 3, 5, or 10 megapixels and 1V/Lux-sec sensitivity; optional dual sensor with lower resolution and ultra high sensitivity, or monochrome sensor
  
• Lens -- 60- to 185-degree field of view with C/CS or M12xP0.5mm thread diameter
  
• Other features -- web-based remote management, configuration, and viewer application; third-party accessible video analysis framework
  
• Power -- 12VDC up to 40VDC (support for 24VAC); 30W (20W for PowerLED lighting); Power over Ethernet Plus (802.3af/pre-802.3at)
  
• Dimensions -- 3.7 x 2.4 x 1.6 inches (93 x 60 x 40 mm)
  
• Operating temperature -- 32 to 122 degrees F (0 to 50 degrees C)
  
• Operating system -- homegrown Linux 2.6; U-boot; TFTP image downloading to NOR flash; Glibc/busybox; multiple-path video processing pipeline (GStreamer-based)

Nexvision's Nexdome Dragonfly (Click for details)

Availability

Nexvision did not provide any details on the pricing or availability of the CamHD reference design.

Two years ago, Nexvision announced a network video security camera prototype called the Nexdome Dragonflythat was based on TI's DM644x-series DaVinci SoCs.

Altera Design Flow for Xilinx Users

http://www.altera.com/literature/an/an307.pdf

H.264 FPGA HD Encoder Comparison

#	H.264 Codec	1080p 30 fps	B Frames	Field/MBAFF	Loop Filter	Multi Reference Frames	CABAC	Xilinx Support and Performance	Altera Support and Performance
1	4i2 h.264 MP www.4i2i.com	Yes	Yes	No Info	Yes	No Info	Yes	Virtex4 720p 30fps	Yes
2	HD MediaTech h.264 MP www.hdmediatech.com	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Virtex-5 LX110 1080p30 fps	No Info
3	Ateme h.264 MP & HP www.ateme.com	No	Yes	Yes	No Info	No Info	Yes	No	Stratix II 1080i30 fps
4	Ocean Logic h.264 BP www.ocean-logic.com	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Virtex4-12 720p 30fps	StratixII-C4 720p 34fps
5	JointWave h.264 encoder www.siliconimage.com	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
6	GDT-H264EBH www.gdt.gr	No	No	No	NoInfo	No	NoInfo	Yes 1280x1024 30fps	No
7	Chips&Media Coda7541 www.chipsnmedia.com	No, 720p	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	Yes	No Info	No Info
8	ON2 8270 Encoder www.on2.com	Yes	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	Yes	NoInfo	No Info
9	Tata Elxsi www.tataelxsi.com	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	Yes	No Info
10	Eyelytics MP Encoder http://www.eyelytics.com/	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Cyclone III 1080p15 fps Stratix III 1080p30 fps

All information were obtained from internet. Please go to vendors' websites or contact vendors directly to estimate their updated info and capabilities in H.264 encoder.

H.264 on FPGA IP Vendors

http://www.drtonygeorge.com/Video/h264/h264_ip_vendors.htm

Lots of video codec info in http://www.drtonygeorge.com/. Here is his list of codec vendors.

There are only few companies currently have expertise in the implementation of of AVC in FPGA. But many more companies are getting involved in this challenging work. The following lists the major players in this field.

#	Codec Vendor	Real time	Enc	Dec	High Profile	Xilinx	Altera	Asic	Verilog	VHDL
1	4i2i www.4i2i.com	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2	Ateme www.ateme.com	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
3	Ocean Logic www.ocean-logic.com	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
4	Silicon Image, Inc  www.siliconimage.com	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No Info
5	GDT  www.gdt.gr	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
6	Sarnoff  www.sarnoffeurope.com	Yes	No	Yes	No	No Info	No Info	Yes	Yes	No
7	Chips&Media Inc www.chipsnmedia.com	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No Info	No Info	Yes	No Info	No Info
8	Fastvdo www.fastvdo.com	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
9	Trilinear  Technology www.trilineartech.com	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No Info	No Info
10	ON2 technology www.on2.com	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
#	Codec Vendor	Real time	Enc	Dec	High Profile	Xilinx	Altera	Asic	Verilog	VHDL
11	Coreel  www.coreel.com	No Info	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
12	Tata Elxsi  www.tataelxsi.com	No Info	Yes	Yes	No Info	Yes	No Info	No Info	Yes	No Info
13	Elecard  www.elecard.com	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info
14	ND technology  www.ndtech.biz	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info
15	Barco Silex  www.barco.com	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info	No Info

The information in this list is based upon the data available from the internet. The information in this list might have been changed since the companies are vigorously updating their portfolio. Please contact the vendor directly to estimate their capabilities in H.264.