  A new DaVinci™ digital media processor for video transcoding in commercial and consumer end equipments is here: the TMS320DM6467 DaVinci processor. This solution is a DSP-based system-on-chip (SoC) specifically tuned for real-time, multi-format, high-definition (HD) video transcoding applications. The DM6467 processor provides:
- Seamless video movement across multiple products
- More than 10x performance at one-tenth the cost
- Flexible and efficient video systems
 The DM6467 processor consists of an integrated ARM9 and TMS320C64x+™ DSP core and a High-Definition Video/Imaging Co-Processor (HD-VICP). The DM6467 Digital Video Evaluation Module (DVEVM) includes MontaVista Linux, industry standard and DaVinci platform APIs, DaVinci Codec Engine and a host of multimedia codecs for evaluation. In addition to standard video, imaging, speech and audio codecs, the system includes new transcoders, such as MPEG-2 to H.264.
Nuvation has already begun development of two DM6467-based systems. Nice chip TI!
LOW-COST TI DM355 PROCESSOR CORE
 The DM355 is a highly integrated, programmable platform for digital still camera, digital photo frames, IP security cameras, 4-channel digital video recorders, video door bell application, and other low cost portable digital video applications. Designed to offer portable video designers and manufacturers the ability to produce affordable portable digital video solutions with high picture quality, the DM355 combines high performance MPEG4 HD (720p) codecs and JPEG codecs up to 50M pixels per second, high quality, and low power consumption at a very low price point. The DM355 also enables seamless interface to most additional external devices required for a complete digital camera implementation. The interface is flexible enough to support various types of CCD and CMOS sensors, signal conditioning circuits, power management, DDR/mDDR memory, SRAM, NAND, shutter, Iris and auto-focus motor controls, etc.
The DM355 processor core is an ARM926EJ-S RISC processor. The ARM926EJ-S is a 32-bit processor core that performs 32-bit and 16-bit instructions and processes 32-bit, 16-bit, and 8-bit data. The core uses pipelining so that all parts of the processor and memory system can operate continuously. The ARM core incorporates:
- A coprocessor 15 (CP15) and protection module
- Data and program Memory Management Units (MMUs) with table look-aside buffers.
- Separate 16K-byte instruction and 8K-byte data caches. Both are four-way associative with virtual index virtual tag (VIVT).
DM355 performance is enhanced by its MPEG4/JPEG coprocessor. The MPEG4/JPEG coprocessor performs the computational operations required for image processing; JPEG compression and MPEG4 video and imaging standard. The MPEG4/JPEG coprocessor supports MPEG4 SP at HD (720p), D1, VGA, SIF encode/decode resolutions and JPEG encode/decode up to 50M pixels per second.
The DM355 device has a Video Processing Subsystem (VPSS) with two configurable video/imaging peripherals:
- A Video Processing Front-End (VPFE)
- A Video Processing Back-End (VPBE)
The VPFE port provides an interface for CCD/CMOS imager modules and video decoders. The VPBE provides hardware On Screen Display (OSD) support and composite NTSC/PAL and digital LCD output.
Nuvation has run up to four channels of D1 MPEG-4 Encode in a single DM355 (18 fps). Wow, nice price-performance!
VXP™ FROM GENNUM IS NOW PART OF SIGMA DESIGN
 While Gennum continues to design, manufacture, and market optical, analog, and mixed-signal products and IP, their VXP™ division has been acquired by Sigma Design. Gennum’s VXP is one of the most advanced single-chip image processors available; delivering crisp, natural looking, artifact-free images on displays of any size. Approximately 46 employees have joined Sigma Designs as part of the sale, including many friends of Nuvation. The VXP Group, headed by David Lynch, will remain in Burlington, Ontario Canada. The transaction was completed in early February, 2008.
Advanced image processing algorithms incorporated into each VXP integrated circuit (IC) ensures outstanding image quality for the consumer display, television and video projection markets.Sigma Designs is a leading fabless provider of highly integrated SoC solutions that are used to deliver multimedia entertainment throughout the home. Sigma’s SoC solutions combine its semiconductors and software and are a critical component of multiple high-growth, consumer applications that process digital video and audio content, including internet protocol TV, or IPTV, high definition DVD players, high definition TVs, or HDTVs and portable media players. Look for many new developments to come from the integration of Gennum’s VXP with Sigma Designs.
XILINX MICROBLAZE™ WITH MMU
 The award-winning MicroBlaze™ 32-bit processor now includes the industry's only configurable Memory Management Unit (MMU) that enables commercial-grade operating system (OS) support and is supported by a host of upgraded IP and design tools delivered with the Embedded Development Kit (EDK) version 9.2. Operating systems that require memory management (like Linux and friends) can now be booted on a soft-core processor in a Xilinx FPGA. The soft-core is highly configurable and can be deployed in a wide variety of implementations, depending on the application requirements. Everything from a tiny, minimal-footprint version to a full-blown memory-managed high-performance processor can be dropped down on a few LUTs doing anything from Linux down to smart state-machine duty.
On the Linux side, LynuxWorks BlueCat Linux is being deployed on the MicroBlaze, adding a commercially-supported Linux variant to the offering. With the performance of the core on current 90nm and 65nm FPGAs, the amount of on-board memory available along with commodity external memory interfaces, and the very high bandwidth connection available to on-chip accelerators, peripherals, and memory, some very interesting applications can now be developed for this architecture. Taking advantage of available DSP resources for high-speed algorithm acceleration in conjunction with this sophisticated processing environment, it should now be possible to create a small reconfigurable-computing system on a single chip with breathtaking performance on some classes of problems.
With the new MMU, designers can use commercial-grade embedded operating systems when implementing their designs in both the Spartan™ family of low-cost FPGAs for high-volume applications, as well as the high-performance Virtex family. To enhance system performance in designs targeting Virtex devices optimized for embedded applications, a direct interface to the enhanced PLB is included to extend peripheral re-use with the on-board PowerPC processor.
For more information on integrating any of these new technologies into your designs, contact Nuvation at sales@nuvation.com.
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