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TI’s New DaVinci™ Technology Development Kit Simplifies Design Effort for Next-Generation Video Applications
Unprecedented Tools Radically Improve Software Integration and System Visibility
HOUSTON (June 6, 2006) — Continuing to streamline the creation of innovative digital video systems, Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) (TI) today announced a new digital video software development kit based on DaVinci™ technology. The new software development kit incorporates exceptional software integration and system visualization technology with a full Linux operating system to integrate and tune complex systems quickly and efficiently. For more information, please see www.ti.com/dvsdkpr.
System designers will use the software development kit to have even greater access to TI’s DaVinci technology, the industry’s most powerful combination of video hardware and software. The new kit includes the eXpressDSP™ Configuration Kit, TMS320DM644x SoC Analyzer based on eXpressDSP Data Visualization Technology and MontaVista’s Linux to help reduce the application development cycle from months to weeks. Developers will use the kit to create and tune optimized IP-set top boxes, video phones, video security systems and other advanced digital video applications.
“To create our smart surveillance camera reference design, we took advantage of TI’s new software development kit and DaVinci technology to achieve optimum system performance and simultaneously shaved more than three months off of our expected development time,” said Upendra Patel, chief technology officer, eInfochips. “The complete package consisting of multimedia codecs, MontaVista Linux and framework components with DaVinci technology enables us to deliver high performance and feature-rich solutions addressing the needs of target market segments.”
New capabilities streamline video system development
The eXpressDSP™ Configuration Kit, included in the new software development kit, allows system developers to integrate discrete software modules and combine them into a single executable output for the system, avoiding months of tedious manual integration. By making it possible to easily create custom bundles of codecs for specific applications, the configuration kit simplifies code reuse and gives developers time to focus their engineering efforts on adding features and value to their products. The configuration kit integrates TI’s video, imaging, speech and audio codecs, as well as custom codecs that comply with TI’s eXpressDSP™ Digital Media (xDM) algorithm standard, TI’s codec engine framework, DSP/BIOS™ real-time kernel and TI’s DSP/BIOS Link inter-processor communication technology.
The unparalleled DM644x SoC Analyzer in the software development kit is the first single tool to provide complete system visibility, enabling developers to identify bottlenecks that were previously impossible to identify. The minimally invasive tool aids in analyzing and identifying problems by capturing and graphically displaying system interaction, load distribution, bottlenecks in data throughput and other types of behavior. As the tasks run on both the DSP and ARM cores of the TMS320DM644x processors the analyzer captures and displays the data on a single timeline providing a complete system view of the application, eliminating the tedious process of manually collecting and comparing data on each core before optimization begins.
Finally, the software development kit also helps developers reduce system test time with a robust, digital-video optimized Linux OS offering for the DaVinci technology-based DM644x processors. The platform includes a proven, system-tested Linux board support package from MontaVista™ that has been optimized for video applications. Developers using the platform will license and receive support for the MontaVista distribution and DevRocket integrated development environment directly from TI, which will give them access to the industry’s vast store of Linux-based resources.
“TI’s DaVinci technology, with best in class performance, was the natural choice to use in our digital media adaptor product and reference design,” said Alain Molinie, chief executive officer, Awox. “The processor enables multiple applications on a single hardware device, provides comprehensive expansion connectors with minimal glue logic and is tailored specifically for digital video applications. DaVinci technology, based on a full software process for encoding and decoding multimedia files, makes our reference design future proof, while the MontaVista Linux allowed for rapid development and reduced time to market.”
Pricing and availability
The digital video software development kit based on DaVinci technology will be available from TI in 3Q 2006. The TMDSSDK6446-L platform, with introductory pricing at $6,995, includes the tools and features discussed in this release and addresses the needs of developers who are already invested in TI development tools. For those undertaking new DaVinci technology designs, the TMDSSDK6446-3L, with introductory pricing at $10,995, also includes an emulator and the Code Composer Studio™ Integrated Development Environment, version 3.2, in addition to the tools and features discussed in the release. The software development kit requires a target platform, and TI offers the digital video evaluation module (DVEVM) for this purpose. For more information about TI’s DaVinci technology offerings and to find about the DaVinci Technology Technical Seminars in your region, see www.thedavincieffect.com.
About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers’ real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company includes the Educational & Productivity Solutions business. 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 www.ti.com.
Trademarks
DaVinci, eXpressDSP, DSP/BIOS and Code Composer Studio are trademarks of Texas Instruments. All registered trademarks and other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
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