Renesas multi-format video codec hardware IP supports low-delay processing

Hardware IP with a processing delay of 1 ms minimum targets real-time video transmission

Renesas Electronics Corporation has developed a multi-format video codec hardware IP product that supports low-delay processing for automotive information terminals that support High Definition Television (HDTV), as well as smartphones and other mobile devices, and industrial equipment.

The hardware IP features a minimum processing delay of 1 ms, support for encoding functions for VP8TM video codecs, and HD (1920 × 1080) 60 fps (1080p60) performance. It implements the same level of hardware scale, low power, and features – such as support for 128-bit high-bandwidth data buses and support for the video formats used in the Android™ mobile technology platform – as the IP included in existing Renesas ICs for mobile applications. Since these features allow the video encoding and decoding adopted by many applications to be performed in a single hardware unit, this IP can provide a superlative cost performance for applications, according to Renesas.

Due to the increasingly high performance of mobile equipment such as automotive information terminals, smartphones, and tablets, there are increasing demands for this equipment to transmit not only recordings of earlier video content, but increasingly complex video content as well. One means of implementing this is peer-to-peer video, which entails the compression and decompression of video signals. Thus, with respect to the video codec technology that performs that compression and decompression, there are now strong needs for implementation not only of extensions to earlier video compression standards but also of extremely low processing delay, in addition to demands for higher performance and lower power.

To respond to these needs, Renesas Electronics developed and is now releasing hardware IP that implements the low-delay processing appropriate for real-time video transmission.

Key Features:

(1) Achieves a 1 ms minimum processing delay

This hardware IP achieves codec processing in which the delay from the start of data input to the start of the corresponding output has a minimum of 1 ms. This enables the development of systems that require that compressed video data be transmitted with low delay, such as wireless video transmission systems or high-quality video conferencing systems.

(2) Strengthened support for video compression standards

In addition to the earlier H.264 AVC, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 compression standards, a VP8 encoding function has been newly added to this hardware IP to strengthen support for internet content. The IP also supports full HD stereo 3D content with the H.264 MVC standard. The decoding functions support the same standards as earlier Renesas hardware IP, allowing the playback of a wide range of content types.

(3) Performance improved to twice that of earlier Renesas products while maintaining the same hardware scale and power consumption

The hardware IP is said to achieve twice the encoding/decoding performance of the earlier Renesas products, namely full HD video at 60 fps (1080p60), with the same hardware scale and power consumption as the earlier hardware IP. Applications that require simultaneous encoding/decoding of multiple video streams, such as compressed transcoding or video chat, can be easily implemented with a single hardware IP.

Renesas also plans to release middleware products that conform to the OpenMAX™ IL that operates on general-purpose operating systems such as Linux®, Android, and Windows® Embedded Automotive.

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