In all video processing applications—from production, storage, transmission, and reception—video technology is quickly being replaced by its digital video counterpart. From a broadcaster's point of view, equipment has to be upgraded to keep pace with the demand for digital television (DTV) and high-definition television (HDTV). On the consumer side, 1080p or full HD television displays are being widely adopted by consumers, setting the stage for content creation and distribution in 1080p. Much of the studio and video hardware for video processing and distribution is expected to change soon to support 1080p.
A typical studio video processing function includes accepting uncompressed video, manipulating it, and either storing it on a server or compressing it for transmission. Typical processing functions include scaling, de-interlacing, chroma resampling, color space conversion, and mixing. A studio system commonly involves most of these functions stitched together along with high-speed memory interfaces. Third-party intellectual property (IP) can also be used along with your custom design to build such systems.
However, to rapidly develop such high-performance systems, you need a framework that has readily available functions with standard interfaces and a means to add customization or third-party IP into the design. Altera® custom logic solutions provide a framework that makes the integration of these functions fast and easy. In compression, the video signal is processed by a discrete cosine transform (DCT) function inside the device, converting an uncompressed video signal to a frequency domain (see Figure 1). In the frequency domain, any unwanted frequency content is removed from the full spectrum and the signal is then compressed and can be transmitted to inverse DCTs.
Figure 1. Example of an Altera Custom Logic Solution for Digital Video Compression
Altera's Digital Video Processing Solutions
The feature-rich architecture of Altera's Stratix® series FPGAs provides an excellent solution for developing digital video production and delivery equipment. Stratix series FPGAs are ideal for studio applications that have demanding video processing and I/O functions.
Altera's custom logic video framework solutions include tools and functions to enable studios to build 1080p video processing systems. Refer to the 1080p Video Framework page for more details on Altera’s video framework. Also, Altera and its partners have IP functions to implement most video processing functions used in a studio, including broadcast quality H.264 coders/encoders (CODECs).
