W&W Communications Announces its Taos Series of H.264 ASICs for Wireless HDMI, Video Surveillance and Video Conferencing Applications

First ever H.264 video codecs to realize full-HD 1080p60 encode-decode at “zero” latency and high channel-density at 32 streams encode or decode

SUNNYVALE, CA — W&W Communications, Inc., the leader in super low latency, Full-HD H.264 video codecs, announced today its Taos series of ASICs, consisting of the WW108, WW602 and WW508 single chip H.264 video codecs. The WW108 is optimized for latency-sensitive, multi-stream HD video conferencing, HD video surveillance and HD wireless media server applications. The WW508 is optimized for high channel-density video surveillance DVR and video server applications at D1 resolutions, while the WW602 is optimized for latency-sensitive, single stream HDMI cable replacement applications, such as for game consoles, laptops, DVD players and set-top boxes.

In encode-only or decode-only mode the WW108 handles a single 1080p60 stream, or up to four 720p30 streams. In codec mode it processes one 1080p30 (or 720p60) encode and one 1080p30 (or 720p60) decode simultaneously, or two 720p30 encodes and two 720p30 decodes simultaneously. The WW602 handles a single HD encode or decode, up to 1080p60. In encode-only or decode-only mode the WW508 encodes or decodes up to eight D1 streams at 30 frames/sec or 32 CIF streams at 30 frames/sec. In codec mode it handles 4 D1 (or 16 CIF) encodes at 30 frames/sec simultaneously with 4 D1 (or 16 CIF) decodes at 30 frames/sec.

“The impressive performance of the WW108, WW508 and WW602 positions Taos at the apex of current H.264 video codecs in the industry. There is nothing like the WW108, WW508 and WW602 today in the video surveillance, wireless HDMI and video conferencing markets. But, more importantly, they provide OEMs in these markets with a drastic cost reduction per HD or SD stream over current ASIC or DSP-based solutions”, said Lars Herlitz, CEO at W&W Communications.

All three products come with support for W&W Communications’ patent-pending Super Low Latency Technology™ (SLL Technology™). This allows the WW108 and WW602 to perform single stream HD processing at sub 1ms encode-decode latency, while the WW108 and WW508 perform multi-stream processing at sub 40ms encode-decode latency.

Designing carrier boards for the WW20BACM and WW20BADM modules is straightforward. The modules come with industry standard signal interfaces for the video, audio and TS I/O. The 16-bit video data interfaces can be directly connected to off-the-shelf HD-SDI, HDMI or Component Video ADCs and DACs. The 8-bit TS interfaces can be directly connected to off-the-shelf DVB-ASI or DVB-SPI transceivers.

“In wireless applications the need for bandwidth always outstrips availability. The WW602 and WW108 provide for the first time no-compromise solutions for wireless HDMI implementations that optimize use of available bandwidth while virtually eliminating latency, and do so at mass consumer price points”, said Kishan Jainandunsing, VP Marketing at W&W Communications.

SLL Technology™ minimizes video feedback delays in video conferencing applications. In video surveillance applications it allows for real-time camera PTZ feedback and for real-time securing of premises upon a security breach, while in wireless media server and wireless HDMI applications it makes gaming and interaction with multi-media content practical.

For these multi-media applications, the transsizing and transrating capabilities of the WW108 and WW602 make it possible to stream content originally distributed in HD or SD format to handheld devices. For video conferencing and video surveillance applications, the WW108 and WW508 allow video captured in HD or SD to be similarly transsized and transrated for transmission to a mobile phone.

The WW108 has features specifically optimized for video conferencing, video surveillance and wireless media server applications, while the WW508 has the same set of features optimized for video surveillance applications. Selective blocking of video regions allows sensitive information to be kept private in video surveillance or video conferencing applications, while this feature can be used for selective blocking of audience-sensitive content in media server applications. Motion vector and SAD information provides hooks to developers of video surveillance analytics applications and video conferencing software developers can use this information to enable auto context-switching features.

Advanced error resiliency and concealment tools combined with advanced, channel-adaptive bit rate control tools allow developers to take full advantage of the WW108, WW602 and WW508 to dynamically determine best modes of operation for any given situation.

Pricing & Availability

The WW108, WW508 and WW602 will start sampling to select customers in July, with mass production planned in Q4 2008. Volume pricing for 10,000 units starts at $100 for the WW108, $40 for the WW508 and $25 for the WW602. An evaluation kit, SDK and HDK are available for design support.