Altera Video and Image Processing Solutions Questions and Answers
Following are the most frequently asked questions about Altera® video and image processing solutions.
General
Q: What value do Altera's programmable solutions bring to video and imaging applications?
A: Consumer demand for innovations such as high-definition televisions (HDTVs) and digital cinema continues to drive the rapid evolution of video and image processing applications. With major advancements in image capture and display resolutions, advanced compression techniques, and video intelligence, the processing bandwidth required for video applications continues to grow. Also, rapid change in standards and higher resolutions are pushing designers away from off-the-shelf technology.
Altera is addressing these trends with modular, programmable video and image processing solutions that offer high performance, flexibility, upgrade ease, low development cost, and a migration path to lower cost when applications mature and volume production ramps.
- Compared to stand-alone digital signal processing (DSP) video and imaging solutions: Altera solutions improve the price-to-performance ratio by letting FPGA coprocessors do the heavy lifting. For example, this offering allows you to implement cost effective high-definition (HD) solutions using a single DSP device and a single FPGA instead of several DSP devices.
- Compared to ASSP devices: FPGAs allow you to reduce cost using custom solutions. For example, you can use FPGAs to support new standards and new features, provide flexibility and expansion capabilities, and eliminate obsolescence risk for a design.
- Compared to ASIC solutions: Altera FPGAs eliminate NRE costs, reduce time-to-market and enable in-system upgrades supporting emerging video and image processing standards.
Q: What components make up the Altera video and image processing solution?
A: Altera's video and image processing solution includes the following products:
- DSP design entry and simulation/debug tools
- Altera's Quartus® II design software and SOPC Builder system design tool
- Altera's DSP Builder tool interface to The MathWorks' MATLAB and Simulink tools
- DSP intellectual property (IP)
- Altera's video and image processing IP suite, comprised of nine optimized video and imaging functions
- Large selection of encoding/decoding IP from partners in the Altera Megafunction Partner Program (AMPPSM), including ATEME, Barco and CAST, Inc.
- Developments kits
- Reference designs
- Video processing reference design using the Altera video and image processing IP suite
Q: What functions are included in the Altera video and image processing IP suite?
A: The video and image processing IP suite consists of nine functions with parameters that can be statically, or in some cases, dynamically changed to custom fit video and image processing application needs.
| Function |
Description |
| Color Space Converter |
Converts image data between a variety of color spaces |
| Gamma Corrector |
Changes the sampling rate of the chroma data for image frames |
| Chroma Resampler |
Performs gamma correction on a color plane/space |
| 2D Filter |
Implements a 3 x 3, 5 x 5, or 7 x 7 finite impulse response (FIR) filter on an image data stream to smooth or sharpen images |
| 2D Median Filter |
Implements a 3 x 3, 5 x 5, or 7 x 7 filter that removes noise in an image by replacing each pixel value with the median of neighboring pixel values |
| Alpha Blending Mixer |
Mixes and blends multiple image streams |
| Scaler |
Resizes and clips image frames |
| Deinterlacer |
Converts interlaced video format to progressive video format |
| Line Buffer Compiler |
Efficiently maps image line buffers to Altera on-chip memories |
Q: Altera's video and image solutions are suited for what target end-application markets?
A: Altera's video and image processing solutions improve costs, performance and productivity for a broad array of video and imaging applications including:
- Broadcast infrastructure
- High definition (HD) videoconferencing
- Multi-channel video surveillance
- Medical imaging
- Military surveillance
- Small displays for automotive and military
- Document imaging
Q: Can designers evaluate Altera's video and image processing suite before purchase?
A: Yes. You can download any of the video and image processing functions to evaluate the performance of the functions in hardware using Altera's OpenCore® Plus evaluation technology.
Q: The design flow for the video processing reference design includes Altera's DSP Builder and SOPC Builder development tools. Are designers required to use these tools when designing with Altera's video and image processing suite?
A: No. You can take advantage of the design, simulation, and system integration features of Altera's DSP Builder and SOPC Builder development tools or you can use a standard VHDL or Verilog design flow.
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