Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, has developed and will start supply of a multi-format video codec hardware IP product that supports low-delay processing for automotive information terminals that support High Definition Television (HDTV), mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and industrial equipment.

This new hardware IP features a minimum processing delay of 1 ms, support for encoding functions for VP8^TM video codecs, and HD (1920 × 1080) 60 fps (1080p60) performance.

In addition, this new hardware IP implements the same level of hardware scale, low power, and features such as support for 128-bit high-bandwidth data buses and support for the video formats used in the Android™ mobile technology platform, as the IP included in existing Renesas system ICs for mobile applications. Since these features allow the video encoding and decoding adopted by many applications to be performed in a single hardware unit, this IP can provide a superlative cost performance for applications.

Due to the increasingly high performance of mobile equipment such as automotive information terminals, smartphones, and tablets, there are increasing demands for this equipment to transmit not only recordings of earlier video content, but increasingly complex video content as well. One means of implementing this is peer-to-peer video, which entails the compression and decompression of video signals. Thus, with respect to the video codec technology that performs that compression and decompression, there are now strong needs for implementation not only of extensions to earlier video compression standards but also of extremely low processing delay, in addition to demands for higher performance and lower power.

To respond to these needs, Renesas Electronics has developed and is now releasing as a commercial hardware IP that implements the low-delay processing appropriate for real-time video transmission.

Key Features of the New Hardware IP:

(1) Achieves a 1 ms minimum processing delay

This hardware IP achieves codec processing in which the delay from the start of data input to the start of the corresponding output has a minimum of 1 ms. This enables the development of systems that require that compressed video data be transmitted with low delay, such as wireless video transmission systems or high-quality video conferencing systems.

(2) Strengthened support for video compression standards

In addition to the earlier H.264 AVC, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 compression standards, a VP8 encoding function has been newly added to this hardware IP to strengthen support for internet content. The IP also supports full HD stereo 3D content with the H.264 MVC standard. The decoding functions support the same standards as earlier Renesas hardware IP, allowing the playback of a wide range of content types.

(3) Performance improved to twice that of earlier Renesas products while maintaining the same hardware scale and power consumption

This new hardware IP achieves twice the encoding/decoding performance of the earlier Renesas products, namely full HD video at 60 fps (1080p60), with the same hardware scale and power consumption as the earlier hardware IP. Applications that require simultaneous encoding/decoding of multiple video streams, such as compressed transcoding or video chat, can be easily implemented with a single hardware IP.

With these features and capabilities set, the new hardware IP is well positioned to support automotive, mobile, and industrial equipment. Renesas also plans to release middleware products that conform to the OpenMAX™ IL that operates on general-purpose operating systems such as Linux®, Android, and Windows® Embedded Automotive. Furthermore, in addition to improving performance with higher resolutions and higher bit rates and expanding support for video compression standards such as the high-efficiency video coding (HEVC) next-generation standard, Renesas will continue to respond to market needs in a timely fashion by developing IP optimal for real-time video transmission.

Availability

Samples of the new hardware IP on the System on Chip (SoC) of Renesas’ R-Car Series and R-Mobile Series are available from April 2013 (Availability is subject to change without notice.)

(Remarks)
VP8 and Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and/or other countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. OpenMAX is trademark of the Khronos Group Inc. All other product names and service names that appear in this press release are all trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners

About Renesas Electronics Corporation

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world’s number one supplier of microcontrollers, is a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions and a broad-range of analog and power devices. Business operations began as Renesas Electronics in April 2010 through the integration of NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723) and Renesas Technology Corp., with operations spanning research, development, design and manufacturing for a wide range of applications. Headquartered in Japan, Renesas Electronics has subsidiaries in 20 countries worldwide. More information can be found at www.renesas.com.