ASIC transfers video data directly to DSP
Designers of intelligent PCI-based frame grabbers often use gate arrays or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to reduce PCB real estate and lower manufacturing costs. In December, Precision Digital Images (PDI; Redmond, WA) will introduce a video-interface ASIC capable of interfacing video decoders, audio CODECs, and the PCI bus and ISDN communications channels to the `C80 DSP from Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX). When used in the company`s next-generation PCI-based products, the interface chip will reduce parts count considerably, according to Julie Baker, sales manager.
PDI will also offer the interface as Verilog files for a one-time fee of $100,000 to allow others to use the design. PDI`s interface ASIC integrates various I/O and communications peripherals for applications that require video, audio, and ISDN channels.
PDI`s C80 Interface ASIC integrates various I/O and communications peripherals for applications that require video, audio, and ISDN channels. The device`s 16-bit video interface accepts standard NTSC and PAL input signals, with horizontal scaling to generate CIF and QCIF resolutions. To accommodate audio, the chip supports multiple serial audio CODECs from Texas Instruments and Crystal Semiconductor (Austin, TX).
An integrated ISDN interface caters to both the IOM2 and MVIP protocols and can be connected to higher-rate ISDN and nonstandard communications channels such Ethernet, Fibre Channel, ADSL, and DSL. With a PCI 2.1-compliant interface, the video interface can maintain a linear burst of 132 Mbyte/s and features bus mastering and a 32-bit data path that supports byte, word, and byte-word swapping for compatibility with big and little-endian systems.
