Texas Instruments introduces new digital video software development kit

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Texas Instruments introduces new digital video software development kit [Copy link]

Texas Instruments (TI) has announced a new digital video software development kit based on DaVinci technology to further optimize the design of innovative digital video systems. This new software development kit provides excellent software integration and system visibility, and when used in conjunction with the Linux operating system, it can quickly and efficiently integrate and adjust complex systems. For more information, please visit: www.ti.com/dvsdkpr .

System designers will be able to further unleash the potential of TI's DaVinci technology through the above software development kit. DaVinci technology integrates the industry's most powerful video hardware and software technologies. The new kit includes the eXpressDSP? Configuration Kit, TMS320DM644x SoC Analyzer based on eXpressDSP data visualization technology, and MontaVista's Linux technology, which will reduce the development cycle from months to weeks. Developers will use the above kit to create and tune optimized IP set-top boxes, video phones, video security systems and other advanced digital video applications.

"To deliver our smart surveillance camera reference design, we leveraged TI's new software development kit and DaVinci technology to achieve optimal system performance while reducing our development schedule by three months," said Upendra Patel, chief technology officer at eInfochips. "The complete kit provides components including multimedia codecs, MontaVista Linux and framework components based on DaVinci technology, enabling us to deliver a feature-rich, high-performance solution to meet the needs of our target markets."

New features simplify video system development
eXpressDSP? configuration kits are provided with the new software development kit to help system designers integrate discrete software modules and unify them into the system's executable output, eliminating the need to spend months manually performing complex integration work. By making it easy to create custom kits of codecs for specific applications, the configuration kit simplifies code reuse, allowing developers to focus their time and energy on adding more features to their products to add value. The configuration kit not only integrates TI's video, imaging, voice and audio codecs, but also includes custom codecs that comply with the TI eXpressDSP? Digital Media (xDM) algorithm standard, TI codec engine framework, DSP/BIOS? real-time kernel, and TI's DSP/BIOS Link inter-processor communication technology.

The software development kit also provides the unmatched DM644x SoC Analyzer, the first tool to provide full system visibility, allowing developers to discover previously invisible design bottlenecks. This tool, which is virtually non-intrusive, collects system interactions, load distribution, data throughput bottlenecks, and other types of operational data and displays them in graphical form to facilitate analysis and problem identification. Because tasks run simultaneously on both the DSP and ARM cores of the TMS320DM644x processor, the analyzer collects and displays data at the same time to provide a complete system application view, eliminating the time-consuming and laborious manual collection and comparison of data from each core for optimization.

Finally, the software development kit provides a robust Linux OS optimized for digital video on the DM644x processor with DaVinci technology to help developers reduce system testing time. The platform includes the MontaVista? proven Linux motherboard support package, which has not only passed the relevant system testing, but also been optimized for video applications. Developers using the above platform will receive a license and related support from the MontaVista distribution organization, and get the DevRocket integrated development environment directly from TI, thus obtaining the industry's richest Linux resources.

"TI's DaVinci technology is the natural choice for our digital media adapter products and reference designs, as it offers best-in-class performance," said Alain Molinie, CEO of Awox. "TI's processors can run multiple applications on the same hardware device, and offer a comprehensive range of expansion connectors, which not only minimizes the design of glue logic, but are also optimized for digital video applications. DaVinci technology is built on a complete software process technology foundation, making it ideal for encoding and decoding multimedia files, which future-proofs our reference designs, while MontaVista Linux helps speed development time and time to market."

TI will release
a digital video software development kit based on DaVinci technology in the third quarter of 2006. The TMDSSDK6446-L platform, priced at $6,995, includes the tools and features described in this article and is designed to meet the needs of developers who have already purchased TI development tools. For those designing with the new DaVinci technology, the TMDSSDK6446-3L, priced at $10,995, provides an emulator and Code Composer Studio? integrated development environment version 3.2 in addition to the tools and features described in this article. The software development kit requires a target platform, and TI offers the Digital Video Evaluation Module (DVEVM). For more information on TI's DaVinci technology portfolio and to find out about DaVinci technology seminars in your area, visit www.thedavincieffect.com.

mdreamj

Texas Instruments is pretty awesome.