The proliferation of high-definition television (HDTV) video content creation and the method of delivering these contents in a bandwidth-limited broadcast channel environment have driven new video compression standards and associated video image processing applications. Traditionally, only cable and satellite operators provided video delivery. Now telecommunication companies (telcos) are getting into this arena by using the latest video coder/decoders (CODECs) and video-processing technology to transmit digital video to the consumer via Internet protocol television (IPTV).
Many new and exciting innovations, such as HDTV and digital cinema, revolve around video and image processing, and the evolution of this technology is rapid. Leaps forward in image capture and display resolutions, advanced compression techniques, and video intelligence are the driving forces behind this innovation. Resolutions in broadcast equipment have increased significantly over the last few years.
Advanced compression techniques are replacing previous-generation technology, offering enhancements like better streaming capability, higher compression for a given quality, and lower latency. JPEG2000 is also gaining momentum in storage and digital cinema. Even as these new compression solutions are deployed, standards committees continue to enhance H.264 and JPEG2000 standards.
In the last 10 years, the digital television broadcast industry has been well served by the MPEG-2 standard for standard-definition television (SDTV). H.264-AVC (MPEG4-Part 10) and the Microsoft version, VC1, will eventually replace MPEG-2 as a video-encoding method for both SDTV and HDTV. Broadcast equipment manufacturers must provide various encoding standards in order to satisfy current and future needs. In addition to the various core video CODEC standards, there are also different types of video pre- and postprocessing algorithms used to enhance the overall picture quality for the consumer.
With expanding resolutions and evolving compression, there is a need for high performance while keeping architectures flexible to allow for quick upgradeability. In addition, as a technology matures and its volumes increase, there will be a desire to reduce costs. By providing solutions for these needs, programmable logic devices (PLDs) play an important role for the emerging digital video broadcast infrastructure.
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