With 2009 quickly approaching, standard-definition television will be a thing of the past as high definition (HD) moves in
for good. Yet the equipment that will
encode and decode HD signals will
need to be able to do it quickly and
efficiently. With this in mind, Fujitsu
Microelectronics America (FMA) will
make a real-time H.264 coder/decoder
(codec) IC available next month.
The MB86H50 is based on an H.264
processing algorithm developed by Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and FMA's 90-nm
process technology (). It
includes high-performance audio and
video processing capabilities. With the
move to a fully networked "high-definition" home, hardware implementations
of H.264 encode and decode as well as
the ability to transcode between formats
will become increasingly important.
H.264 is also known as MPEG-4 Part
10 and AVC, which stands for Advanced
Video Coding. The MB86H50 supports
the high profile (HP) at level 4. This profile is required for next-generation high-definition DVD players, like HD DVD and
Blu-ray, as well as a slew of other emerging products using H.264, such as portable media players and home networking equipment.
H.264 data streams require complex
algorithms to process the high-volume
data, which generates large computational loads. These loads are best handled by a high-speed IC capable of real -time compression/decompression. The
MB86H50 delivers the compute power
necessary to handle the complex data
streams. It also provides:
- HD video codec supporting up to 1440
by 1080 pixels with support for Dolby
Digital sound
- 256 Mbits of embedded fast-cycle
RAM (FCRAM) for reduced power consumption
- A proprietary self-tuning algorithm that
automatically reduces compression in
high action scenes where compression
artifacts are most noticeable while
increasing compression elsewhere.
The MB86H50 will cost $120 each in
sample quantities. It comes in a 1.5- by 1.5-cm package.
Fujitsu Microelectronics America
http://us.fujitsu.com/micro
