Get Your High Definition Here: TI's Digital Media Processor Cranks Out HD Video Streams with Room to Spare

This digital media processor follows on the success of the 600 MHz DM642, which is in the hands of hundreds of customers developing everything from security cameras to video telephony systems, and is being incorporated into designs by eight of the top 10 IP set top box manufacturers. For more information, please see: http://www.ti.com/dm642720pr.

TI will demonstrate the digital media processor family at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Sept. 10-14, in Hall 4, booth #161.

In addition to sampling the 720 MHz version of the DM642, TI is now offering production class devices for the TMS320DM640 and TMS320DM641, plus the 600 MHz version of the DM642. These code-compatible digital media processors are scalable across a wide range of clock speeds and memory capacities to support applications from video-based consumer electronics to video infrastructure equipment.

"TI's DM642 was one of the first programmable DSP to pass conformance testing at D1 resolution for both the Windows Media 9 encoder and decoder," said Steve Sklepowich, group manager in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Digital Media Division. "TI's new 720MHz DM642 facilitates the ramp of HD WM9 into a range of embedded consumer applications with code-compatible, programmable performance."

"We expect to see momentum for high end IP set top boxes," said Greg Ireland, senior research analyst, consumer markets: video for for IDC. "For US deployment, HD will be a critical element of advanced video on demand services, and the availability of set top boxes that can deliver robust HD will have a positive impact on the market."

With manufacturers driving toward more complex features and functionality, having a programmable platform with optimized performance is key. The DM642 includes integrated multimedia and communications peripherals such as on-chip HD-capable video ports, glueless Ethernet connectivity, multi-channel audio and 66-MHz PCI connectivity. The new 720 MHz version offers higher performance for HD streaming and broadcast applications as well as headroom for extended features such as object recognition and tracking for surveillance applications, multiple channel decode for streaming applications and image cleanup, network transport, better audio quality and better system control for other video applications. The DM641 and DM640 processors also support video ports and critical peripherals for digital media adapters, personal video recorders, consumer IP-based video phones and video conferencing systems and digital surveillance systems.

  DM64x Platform Features          DM642                DM641        DM640
  Video ports (BT656 compatible)  3 dual (20 bits)  2 (8 bits)   1 (8 bit)
  McASP                           8-bit dual        4-bit        4-bit
  Host Interface                  32-bit            16-bit         --
  Peripheral Component
   Interconnect (PCI)             66 MHz               --          --
  SDRAM interface                 64-bit            32-bit       32-bit
  L1/L2 Cache Memory              L2: 256KB         L2: 128KB    L2: 128KB
                                  L1P: 16KB         L1P: 16KB    L1P: 16KB
                                  L1D: 16 KB        L1D: 16 KB   L1D: 16 KB

  Clock Rate                      720/600/500       600/500      400
  Millions of Multiply
   Accumulates (MMACs)            2880/2400/ 2000   2400/2000    1600

TI continues to supply advanced development tools to accelerate product development. Engineers can turn to the Digital Media Developers Kit, which contains a PCI-bus EVM evaluation module (also available separately) as well as eXpressDSP(TM) software and development tools including DSP/BIOS(TM), reference framework software, streaming-media executable demos, a high-speed emulator and even a camera with cables. Also, the new 720 MHz version of the DM642 EVM enables engineers to begin immediate evaluation of their algorithms such as dual standard-definition D1 decoding or HD 720p decode. Further, third parties supply DM64x-based tools with hardware and software tailored for system-level solutions in specific markets such as consumer IP-based video phones or set top boxes. This third party network also offers a wide range of AV algorithms including H.264, H.263, AC-3, AAC, MP3 and more; please see http://www.ti.com/dm642720pr for full list.

Pricing and Availability

The DM640, DM641 and DM642 (600 MHz version) are available now in volume production with pricing starting as low as $19.95 each in quantities of 10,000 for the 400 MHz DM640. The TMS320DM642 running at 720 MHz is sampling today at $59.99 (10 KU). The DM642 Evaluation Module (EVM) is $1995 with the complete DM64x-based Digital Media Developer's Kit (DMDK) selling for $6495 which includes the DM642 EVM.

  Product Reviews for the DM642 DSP-Based Digital Media Processor
  Please see http://www.ti.com/dm642720pr for additional product reviews.

"When you take into account your power budget, your performance requirements and tool chain support, there really aren't any options left. The DM642 is simply the best choice if you need to support more than one video codec. With the new 720 MHz version of the DM642, we can achieve significantly higher bit rates when decoding H.264 video, thus meeting broadcasters' demands as to video quality and decoder reliability."

Jan Rychter, CTO, Sentivision

"Our control room solution consists of a number of projection modules, and each of these projection modules has its own control which can display a number of video sources onto a single screen in a flexible configuration. We use DSPs because we see that the standards for compressing video are changing all the time and DSP allows us to change the algorithm as needed. We chose the DM642 for our latest design because it gives us the same performance for a better price because of the integrated peripherals that are available on the chip, and this allows us to lower the total system cost of our solution. The new 720 MHz DM642 will allow us to decode more channels simultaneously on the same input card, which would allow us to increase the number of channels that we can decode on a single device and display on our screens as well as go into higher resolutions."

Peter Brussens, market development manager, broadcast, Barco

"VBrick is using the DM642 for increased processor capacity and higher performance, as we seek full D1 resolution and adherence to standards. We think the DM642 is an excellent platform to build on for additional video capabilities. For current and future applications, it's very important for us to deliver DVD-quality video, including MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 with up to full 30 frames per second, PAL, NTSC, over IP networks. For the newer MPEG profiles and for emerging standards, the DM642 allows us to develop on a platform that gives our customers flexibility."

Rich Mavrogeanes, founder and CTO, VBrick Systems

Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers' real-world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductors, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com/.

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