VeriSilicon introduces multiformat decoder IP with VP9 Profile 2 support

VeriSilicon Introduces Hantro G2v2 Multi-format Decoder IP with VP9 Profile 2 to Support 10-bit Premium Internet Content

BARCELONA, Spain — Mobile World Congress 2015 — VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd. (VeriSilicon), a Silicon Platform as a Service (SiPaaS™) company that provides IP-centric and platform based custom silicon solutions and end-to-end turnkey services, announces today the availability of Hantro G2v2 Multi-format Decoder IP to support Google’s VP9 Profile 2. This profile was introduced by the WebM project in 2014 to meet the industry’s requirement for higher precision content. VP9 Profile 2 uses 10/12-bit 4:2:0 sampling format. Additionally, Hantro G2v2 supports HEVC Main and Main 10 Profiles and VP9 Profile 0. Hantro G2v2 IP is available for immediate licensing.

“As industry support for VP9 continues to grow, having VeriSilicon become one of the first hardware IP providers to offer 10-bit VP9 support can help even more SoC companies take advantage of this higher quality format,” says Regis Crinon, Technical Product Manager at YouTube.

4K resolution video content is becoming popular very rapidly. Uploads of 4K video on YouTube have more than tripled in the last year alone and user searches for 4K video content on YouTube have also increased significantly. Both HEVC-based and VP9-based 4K video streaming and video-on-demand services have been launched in developed markets last year. Many of these services are moving to 60 frames per second content, which represents a significant challenge for SoC designs by causing system bus congestion. Hantro G2v2 introduces two novel techniques to solve this bus bandwidth challenge when playing 4K video. First, Hantro Reference Frame Compression (RFC) is a lossless compression that reduces the bus bandwidth by up to 40%. Second, Hantro Decompression and Tile to Raster Conversion (DTRC) IP which is an optional module licensed together with Hantro G2v2, eliminates the output image writing. These two techniques together help reduce the system bandwidth by more than 2.5 GB per second and decrease power consumption significantly. Both Hantro RFC and DTRC have a minimal impact to the required silicon area and no performance penalty. As a result, 4K 60 frames per second decoding can be done with a single core.

“According to Google data, the interest in 4K video is skyrocketing. Both user generated 4K video content and commercial 4K streaming services are growing rapidly. Hantro RFC and DTRC are universal IPs that work with any GPU or display controller you’re using. It doesn’t set any restriction to your system design allowing you to use components from multiple IP vendors,” says Dr. Wayne Dai, Founder, President and CEO of VeriSilicon.

To set up a meeting for additional information at Mobile World Congress (Barcelona, March 2-5), please contact Tomi Jalonen (tomi.jalonen@verisilicon.com).