ChipWrights Stacks New Linux Application Development Kit with Major Enhancements for IPTV Set Top Box and IP Camera Markets
August 18, 2010
ChipWrights' new Linux® Application Development Kit for the CW5631 System-on-Chip (SoC) provides necessary components to develop low-cost IPTV set-top box (STB) and IP camera solutions and significantly improve time to market. The Kit is based on the OpenEmbedded build system, leveraging thousands of open source packages.
Major enhancements include H.264 main profile support at D1; MPEG4 and MJPEG high-definition (720p) support; introduction of a media player that plays videos, music and displays pictures; and an image processing and encoding application with full source code.
“H.264 main profile provides better quality video for a given bit rate or lower bit rate for a given quality metrics. It allows service providers to achieve more efficient bandwidth usage,” says Halil Padir, Director of Software at ChipWrights. Most of the video content on the Internet is H.264 main profile these days. “By supporting this feature, our customers can develop IP camera and media player products with better performance and provide coverage for most of the video services,” he adds.
The new media player (TVGUI) is designed for applications in Internet-connected televisions and standalone media player set-top boxes. Key features include:
- TV-optimized UI with IR remote control
- On-screen file browser
- Optional live video pass-through on supported hardware
- Lightweight, extensible widget toolkit aimed at consumer equipment applications
- Modular design: ideal platform for further development
Another key enhancement is ChipWrights’ new image processing and encoding application (VideoKit), which is also provided with full source code. “VideoKit serves as an ideal platform for customers who are developing advanced dewarping camera or videoconferencing applications,” says Padir. The source code provides examples for several image processing functions available on the ChipWrights DSP, plus, an example of using open-source projects FFMPEG and Live555 to stream live video from a CW5631-based device. Key features include:
- Video capture from PAL/NTSC video decoder or CMOS image sensor (depends on hardware availability) using V4L2
- Runtime-configurable image processing pipeline with live display at resolutions up to 720p
- Image filters include: de-interlacer; steerable linear and fisheye camera dewarping; blur; erode; dilate; threshold; unsharpen mask; negative image; brightness and contrast control
- Real-time chroma-key: configurable background image and key color for green screen effects (e.g. weather map)
- Live RTP streaming of processed video using MPEG4 or H.264
- Real-time control from a PC-based GUI.
Download the Linux Application Development Kit.
ChipWrights media contact
Carla Catalano: press@chipwrights.com
AD Group media contact
Tim Compston, Group PR Manager: tim@ad-group.co.uk
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