Texas Instruments recently unveiled the TMS320DM6467 chip, the latest in the company’s DaVinci DSP line. The chip targets use in real-time-video transcoding; it handles high-definition video. The chip has an ARM core for control processing—in this case, a 926EJ-S—and a 600-MHz C64x+ DSP core. This variant includes a video coprocessor into which TI hard-coded transcoding-HD video, a conversion engine, and appropriate video-interface ports.

It performs simultaneous multiformat HD encoding, decoding, and transcoding of 1080p at 30 frames/sec or 1080i/720 at 60 frames/sec. The coprocessor and hardware acceleration deliver power equivalent to 3 GHz in a programmable DSP; offloading the main DSP engine in this way leaves more than half of its processing capability available for application code.

The conversion engine also hosts hardware chroma sampling and handles overlay of menus. Target markets are media gateways, video telephony, and video security, in which the system handles multiple channels of standard-definition video. In this scenario, the set-top box becomes tomorrow’s “digital-media adapter,” routing video to and from any format, from big-screen HD to cell-phone displays.

The processing load that this chip handles would previously have required three 6415T DSPs, with more associated RAM and flash memory and a larger FPGA. The new part sells for $35.95 (50,000). TI supports it with its standard tool chain, accessing third-party software intellectual property; an evaluation module runs MontaVista Linux.