videantis introduces new scalable video solutions up to HD for mobile devices

Integrated stream unit enables high-quality encoding, high-bitrate decoding on ultra-small silicon area with minimum load on host CPU

HANNOVER, Germany — videantis GmbH, a leading provider of programmable video engines, today announced the addition of the new v-MP20x0MOB product line of scalable video solutions to its growing portfolio of multi-standard video IP solutions.

By combining powerful video engines with a programmable stream unit, the v-MP20x0MOB solution packages are capable of encoding and decoding video up to 720p resolution in a wide range of standards on extremely small silicon area without placing load on the host CPU. With full functional flexibility through firmware upgradeability on silicon after production, they provide a future-proof solution by allowing chip and system vendors to adapt their product specifications to dynamic market needs over lifetime without redesign.

“With this new offer of complete video subsystems, we enable our customers to bring their products to the next level of user video experience while saving silicon area, CPU resources, and being able to rapidly follow changes in specifications and market requirements even after silicon production”, says Young-Hun Kluge, VP Sales and Marketing of videantis GmbH.

Initially, the following members of the v-MP20x0MOB product line are available:

• v-MP2010MOB: Entry point solution for full D1 video decoding and encoding at smallest silicon area footprint and lowest power consumption
• v-MP2020MOB: High-end D1 solution for best-quality video encoding plus decoding with simultaneous value-add image and video processing features
• v-MP2030MOB: Entry point solution for mobile 720p video decoding and encoding at smallest silicon area footprint for HD
• v-MP2040MOB: High-end mobile 720p solution for best-quality video encoding plus decoding with simultaneous value-add image and video processing features

At only 1.5mm2 in 65nm technology, the v-MP2010MOB solution is capable of multi-standard video decoding for standards like H.264, VC-1/WMV9, MPEG-4, DivX, H.263, RealVideo, Flash, MPEG-2, MPEG-1, and JPEG, up to high bitrates while supporting advanced feature sets such as FMO/ASO (flexible macroblock ordering/arbitrary slice order) of the H.264 standard. H.264 BP decoding, for example, is supported up to 10Mbit/s. On the same silicon footprint, the v-MP2010MOB also supports video encoding for multiple standards like H.264 BP, MPEG-4 SP, and H.263 just by firmware change.

Supporting extended sets of compression tools for various standards like H.264 BP, MPEG-4 SP, H.263, and VC-1, the higher-end solutions starting with the v-MP2020MOB are able to provide encoding results at quality levels that are unprecedented in mobile environments at reduced bit rates.

All solutions support JPEG still image encoding and decoding at 25Mpixel/s or higher, allowing, e.g., a high shot-to-shot performance with low exposure times.

Furthermore, a wide range of value-add image and video processing features is supported in parallel to decoding and encoding without increase in silicon. As a consequence, dedicated function blocks for tasks like scaling, color conversion, rotation, or image stabilization can frequently be removed from a system design when using a videantis solution, thus further increasing the overall cost benefit of the integrated solution packages.

All v-MP20x0MOB solutions are pre-verified in real system environments and have been particularly optimized to tolerate long memory access latencies. Mobile environments are specifically targeted with support for industry-standard media framework APIs like OpenMAX IL 1.1 and are ready for drop-in use in today’s mobile systems.

The v-MP20x0MOB product line complements the existing v-MP2000 family of video engines which offload stream processing to optimized C code on standard RISC cores like ARM9, ARM11, MIPS4K, MIPS24K, etc. for system designs where headroom on the system CPU is available. A separate product line targeting consumer HD applications is scheduled for release later this year. The v-MP2010MOB and v-MP2020MOB solutions are immediately available for licensing and delivery. The v-MP2030MOB and v-MP2040MOB solutions are available for delivery to licensees from Q3 2008 with early design-ins with lead customers starting now.