Full-Duplex Codec IC Replaces Five Chips, Slashes DVR Costs

With the development of the iTVC15 full-duplex codec IC, manufacturers of digital video recorders (DVRs) are said to have the means for not only slashing the cost of designing and manufacturing next-generation DVRs, but for also adding new features to these products, as well as improving the quality of their audio and video. By integrating on-chip MPEG2 audio/video encoding and decoding, transport, and on-screen display controller, the iTVC15 codec chip provides the functionality previously requiring five chips to implement. The five functions include: audio compression, MPEG2 video compression, MPEG2 audio/video decompression, display control, and logic.
To help improve DVR video quality, the new codec includes built-in linear filters that dynamically change or soften images at the pre-processing stage. In addition, the IC is said to keep picture quality high even as data rates are reduced and recording times are lengthened-- quality reportedly approaches that of DVDs with just 1.4-Mb/s transfer rates versus 8-Mb/s for DVDs.
Other video quality improvements registered by the iTVC15 codec include increased motion search range, de-coupling of motion estimation from encoders, and an adaptive quantization scheme.
In a 456-ball BGA, iTVC15 costs $29 each/10K. Software support for the Windows environment, including the latest DirectShow filters and software decoders, is provided.