Ateme and Texas Instruments have developed a new network video development kit (NVDK) based on TI’s TMS320C64x 1GHz digital signal processors (DSP).
Easing the creation of higher performing networked video end equipments, Ateme and Texas Instruments have announced availability of a new network video development kit (NVDK) based on TI’s TMS320C64x 1GHz digital signal processors (DSP). The NVDK, designed by Ateme, is an optimised development platform for the creation of broadcast head-end equipment and advanced digital media and video applications, such as video infrastructure, which requires superior processing performance and streaming features. The NVDK is made of a rich-featured hardware board and all foundation software required for developing imaging and video applications, particularly those requiring network connectivity.

The NVDK includes several expansion connectors along with the board to provide access to a wide range of the DSP’s I/O resources and to enable custom digital interfaces as well as networking and audio/video I/Os.

The analogue TMS320AIC23 on the board converts audio from analogue to digital.

A full software package comes with the kit, including drivers and BSL, DSP terminal, TCP/IP stack, API and technology demos as JPEG, H.263, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.

The NVDK may be used in stand-alone mode with its own power supply or operate in a PC using its PCI interface.

In its 1GHz version, the NVDK kit from Ateme now includes essential software tools for evaluating H.264 decoding.

The board decodes H.264 files and run them on a monitor that also displays information on the decoded streams.

The H.264 decoder evaluation tool allows evaluating video quality and checking performance statistics of H.264 baseline and main profiles decoder on DSP up to HD format.

“C64x-based DSPs are ideal processors for implementing advanced video encoders”, said Marc Guillaumet, Marketing Director, Ateme.

“The additional performance of the 1GHz enables customers to achieve higher performance and even better video quality thus making it possible to have pre- and post-processing and more demanding algorithms, such as advanced codecs for this DSP, as substantiated by the performance benchmarks from the H.264 decoder evaluation tool”.

Customers developing with the C64x DSPs running at 1GHz can take advantage of all of Ateme’s catalogue products, including audio and video compression algorithms and Kompressor, Ateme’s C64x-based encoding solution for broadcast.

The 1GHz clock rate boosts the efficiency of existing optimised audio/video compression systems from Ateme.

This combination of technologies not only brings higher performance, which achieves higher resolution and faster frame rates, but it also leaves more headroom to integrate several functions in a single chip.

For example, audio and MPEG-4 video compression, RTP/RTSP streaming and other features related to a specific application can be integrated on a single 1GHz C64x DSP.

“By working with Ateme, we are able to offer our customers highly optimised development tools that allow them to speed their development process for digital media applications”, said Yvonne Cager, Video Solutions Marketing Manager, TI.

Ateme has continually provided leading-edge products based on the latest technologies from TI.

TI’s 1GHz DSP allows Ateme to run advanced audio and video codecs at high resolution, like H.264 which is of prime importance for the streaming server and IPTV industries and video surveillance.

This offering complements ATEME’s current algorithm portfolio that includes WMV9, H.264, MPEG-4, SP, ASP, MPEG-2, JPEG and their associated audio (MPEG audio, MP3, AAC).

Those libraries are optimised for TI’s 1GHz DSPs.

TI offers a full suite of production qualified products for video and audio applications including the DSP-based TMS320DM64x generation of digital media processors, which are appropriate for a range of client video products, and the 1 GHz C64x DSPs which are suited for video broadcast and infrastructure applications.