NTT Electronics Develops Compact, Low-Power H.264/AVC HDTV Codec Module with PCI Express Interface
December 3, 2008

NTT Electronics Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward (hereafter, NTT Electronics) Hiroshi Yoshimura, President announces a low power, H.264/AVC (*1) HDTV real-time codec module, named PINEA (*2) module that incorporates PCI Express.

By combining the PINEA module with a stacked package structure including DDR memory, a compact H.264/AVC system for PC application can be easily achieved.

Recently, the use of H.264/AVC has spread to a variety of applications such as broadcasting, next-generation DVDs, and mobile devices. H.264/AVC is especially advantageous in applications limited by a narrow bandwidth communications environment, where the codec's high compression efficiency is utilized. Due to the massive processing resources required by the amount of calculations involved, software-based codecs on personal computers have yet to fully support the real time processing needed for full-HD video or multi-channel SD video encoding. The result has been great demand for hardware-based codecs that offer stable, real-time encoding.

In response to the market, NTT Electronics has developed the PINEA real-time H.264/AVC HDTV codec module supporting PCI Express, a common interface in today's personal computers and servers. This module not only realizes high-resolution video compression, but also offers a compact form and low- power consumption. The PCI express interface also reduces development time.

Mass production is scheduled to begin in June 2009.

Terminology

*1

H.264/AVC
Jointly standardized in 2004 by the International Telecommunication Union's Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) as a video codec. Also referred to as MPEG-4 AVC. Can realize twice as much or more data compression compared to that for the MPEG-2 standard.

*2

PINEA
A single-chip video codec IC with a PCI Express interface that enables high-resolution video compression and playback while decreasing the PC's processing load. Compliant with the H.264/AVC standards, it reduces data sizes and bit rates to less than half those of MPEG-2 while maintaining high video quality. Using stacked package DDR internal memory, it achieves significant form reduction while reducing power consumption.

*3

Support for four-channel SD, eight-channel CIF video
Supports four-channel SD and eight-channel CIF inputs. Multiple channels can be combined on the PC and input into the PINEA module to encode and decode full HD composite video.

*4

AES
Abbreviation for advanced encryption standard, a highly safe and reliable encryption algorithm adopted by the United States' National Institute of Standards and Technology.