Video Capability of TI OMAP 4 and 5

The last OMAP 4 is OMAP 4470, which is offering dual ARM Cortex-M3 CPU cores running at up to 1.8GHz. TI claimed that OMAP 4470's overall graphics performance on the new SoC is 250 percent better than the OMAP4430 which runs in the RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The OMAP 4 uses the IVA 3 multimedia accelerator which supports:

• Full HD 1080p30 multi-standard video encode/decode
• Hardwired codecs deliver high performance at low power levels
• Programmable DSP provides flexibility for future codecs VTC 1080p30
• Provides support for high definition stereoscopic 3D encode/decode (OMAP4430: 720p, OMAP4460/4470: 1080p)

Ittiam demonstrated the OMAP 4 was capable of driving 4-way 720p video conferencing and high quality peer-to-peer 720p class HD video conferencing.

The OMAP 5 will have Quad-core, two high-powered CPU cores, up to 2GHz, and two lowly tickers, which are to carry out the mundane tasks to save on battery life. It will use the IVA 3 HD multimedia accelerator and supports

• Full HD 1080p60 multi-standard video encode/decode
• Hardwired codecs deliver high performance at low power levels
• Programmable DSP provides flexibility for future codecs
• Provides support for high definition stereoscopic 3D encode/decode at 1080p30

TI will also add some value for image processing, such as gesture recognition for commanding your device, as well as great DSP engines for photography. Special care is paid to the camera department in OMAP 5 as well, with built-in chips for what TI calls "computational photography", using the powerful silicon to compensate for motion blur, camera shake, and bring about enhanced HDR, as well as real-time face recognition. Object and text recognition are also taken to the next level, which should bring along some promising augmented reality apps.