Meeting the highest quality video requirements of broadcast equipment designers through new real-time encoding technology

Xilinx Korea (General Manager Ahn Heung-sik) September 14, 2010 – Xilinx and VSofts (Vanguard Software Solution, Inc.) showcased the capabilities of VSofts’ H.264/AVC-I IP core at the IBC2010 conference held in Amsterdam, Netherlands from the 10th to the 14th. This provides very low latency, ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and minimizes delay from source to encoded video in real-time video broadcasting applications by implementing the Panasonic AVC-Intra specification as an industry-standard codec on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

“Video capture and broadcasting technologies are changing very rapidly,” said Felix Nemirovsky, Vice President of Marketing at VSofts. “In terms of acquiring, editing, and storing high-value content, the flexibility, high data rates, and real-time performance provided by our AVC I-frame encoder based on Xilinx’s market-leading FPGAs can accommodate the demands of the rapidly evolving market.”

With demands for video capture and display shifting toward 3D TV and 4Kx2K digital cinema, FPGAs not only provide designers with flexibility during the design phase and into production as standards evolve, but also deliver the performance required to drive real-time video. The evolution from 1080i to 4Kx2K formats requires an eightfold increase in throughput, ranging from 1.5Gbps to 12Gbps, based on the camera. Consequently, potential issues arise at every stage of the broadcast chain, from the camera to professional studio video processing contribution encoders, video servers, and post-production houses. The H.264AVC intra IP core overcomes these problems by significantly reducing encoding latency from camera image capture to live broadcast through the flexibility, parallel processing, and high-speed connectivity features unique to Xilinx Virtex®-6 FPGAs.

Dean Westman, Vice President of Communications Business at Xilinx, said, “The broadcast industry is evolving faster than custom or standard system-on-chip solutions can support in terms of performance, flexibility, and time-to-market.” He added, “VSofts’ H.264AVC intra-encoding solution meets the performance and development requirements of broadcast equipment developers by demonstrating the value of IP within Xilinx’s target design platform approach.”

Xilinx Broadcast Target Design Platform
VSofts’ H.264 AVC Intra IP Core, scheduled for mass production later this year, joins Xilinx’s encoding IP portfolio and will become one of Xilinx’s design platforms for the broadcast industry. This IP core can be used in conjunction with Xilinx Broadcast Processing and Xilinx Broadcast Connectivity Kits. It provides the core hardware and necessary for rapidly configuring systems and fully verifying performance across a wide range of video and audio applications.