Product category: Intellectual Property Cores
News Release from: ARC International | Subject: Video Subsystem
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 20 February 2007
H.246 benchmarks validate video performance
Benchmark results validate the low system clock rate and low energy consumption of the ARC Video Subsystem when decoding standard definition H.264 video
ARC International and Berkeley Design Technology have announced the industry's first certified H.264 decoder performance benchmark results for the ARC Video Subsystem. These results validate the low system clock rate and low energy consumption of the ARC Video Subsystem when decoding standard definition H.264 video.
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 20 February 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Atmel opts for configurable video
Atmel Corp has taken a licence for the ARC Video Subsystem
ARC's revenue exceeds expectations
ARC International has announced its unaudited financial results for the full year ended 31st December 2006
This low power is a benefit of ARC's configurable architecture that enables the creation of highly efficient subsystems and processors.
The ARC Video Subsystem requires as little as 160MHz, with low power consumption and small die sise, to decode a 1.5Mbit/s BDTI video stream at 30 frames per second for the H.264 Baseline Profile decoder at D1 resolution.
No special modifications were made to the standard ARC Video Subsystem to achieve these results.
BDTI uses a proprietary video test clip, which consists of several types of scenes commonly used to evaluate video codec performance.
In an article in its InsideDSP.com newsletter, BDTI stated: 'ARC helped BDTI create a methodology which is both fair and responsive to the needs of video system and SoC developers, including a rigorous and independent certification process'.
Further reading
ARC figures to exceed market expectations
ARC International expects unaudited revenue for the financial year ended 31st December 2006 to be not less than GBP 13.3 million
Cores contribute to hot consumer devices
ARC-based solutions on show at this week's International Consumer Electronics Show include some of the hottest consumer devices and technologies available
Contract covers configurable processors
One of the largest semiconductor companies in the USA has taken a multiyear licence for ARC's patented multimedia subsystems and configurable processors
According to BDTI's analysts: 'BDTI's findings confirm ARC's claim that the ARC Video Subsystem can perform H.264 decoding at 160MHz, with a die area of 9.1mm2 and an average power consumption of 116mW (3.9J of energy per frame) in a 0.13um process'.
'By being the first to obtain BDTI Solution Certification for its H.264 decoder solution, ARC has taken a leadership role in bringing better information to the video solution marketplace, and has demonstrated its confidence in the ARC Video Subsystem'.
Derek Meyer, ARC's Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said: 'ARC partnered with BDTI because they are the industry's most respected independent authority for signal processing benchmarks'.
'By following their rigorous and independent certification process, we now are able to provide customers with BDTI verified data that clearly shows the efficiency of the ARC Video Subsystem for H.264 decoding'.
'This not only supports our leadership position, but will help our customers make more informed decisions for SoCs targeting video-intensive applications'.
ARC Video is a configurable subsystem that offers a powerful, highly efficient solution for low power multimedia applications.
It incorporates must-have video and imaging codecs in a pre-verified, programmable environment.
The ARC Video Subsystem processes H.264, VC-1, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 decoders and industry standard imaging codecs at less than 40mW (90nm TSMC G) for standard definition resolutions.
The ARC Video Subsystem includes a configurable ARC 700 family core that is coupled with the company's award winning single instruction multiple data (SIMD) accelerator, which was specifically designed for video and audio processing.
A media-centric DMA engine incorporated in the ARC Video Subsystem is highly tuned to efficiently handle multimedia packet transfers.
A full set of hardware and software development tools is included with each ARC Video Subsystem licence.
All ARC Media Subsystems are configurable, enabling SoC designers to add or remove instructions to better differentiate from their competition.
By leveraging the programmable nature of ARC's subsystems, additional algorithms can be included beyond the optimised and preverified codecs supplied as part of the subsystem.
Because the ARC Video Subsystem is based on a configurable ARC 700 family core, it can run at up to 533MHz in a 0.13um process.
• ARC International: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• NEW
• Electronicstalk Home Page
Related Business News
Cast Selects Avery Design Systems For...
...Pci Express Verification Ip. Semiconductor intellectual property provider CAST, Inc. today announced that it has begun using the PCI-Xactor test environment from Avery Design Systems to verify its current and future PCI Express IP cores.
Vsia Announces Release Of Qip Metric...
...Now Publicly Available With Hard Ip Extension. The VSI Alliance , the leading IP standards body for the electronics industry, today announced the Quality IP Metric version 3.0, which includes the hard IP extension, is now publicly available.
Gda Technologies Selected By Renesas Technology...
...For Pci Express To Amba Axi Bridge. Gda Technologies, Inc., a fast growing supplier of Intellectual Property and Electronic Design Services , today announced that Renesas Technology Corp., a leading semiconductor company, has selected GDA for development of a PCIE 2 AMBA AXI Bridge to be
Altera delivers first FPGA-Based IP support for Ethernet protocols
Bangalore, India: Altera Corp. has announced FPGA-based support for Ethernet communications protocols used in industrial automation applications, including ProfiNet, Ethernet/IP, Modbus-IDA, EtherCAT, SERCOS III Interface, and Ethernet Powerlink.
Ieee Picks Up Vsia's Standards Work
The IEEE has formed two study groups to explore the creation of IEEE standards based on work done at the VSI Alliance.
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
