intoPIX enhances its multichannel JPEG 2000 codec IP-Cores to meet broadcasters' needs for live events

Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium -- April 8, 2009 -- intoPIX, the leader in JPEG 2000 solutions, presents its latest IPX-JPHD encoders and decoders for the broadcast industry. This new release not only delivers all the benefits of JPEG 2000, but is now able to provide the highest quality images for live events while meeting the tight latency requirements required to deliver this type of content.

JPEG 2000 is a feature-rich compression technology that provides the broadcast industry benefits over existing compression technologies. These benefits include being extremely scalable, no generational loss, easy proxy extraction and frame-to-frame editing. intoPIX’s new hardware implementation is now also able to add a key advantage for broadcasters: to reduce the overall encoding-decoding chain latency to unprecedented levels while keeping the best image quality.

“Our multichannel IPX-JPHD Broadcast Family delivers IP-Cores that have been specially designed to tackle the challenging needs of the broadcast market. For instance, in the past, low latency constraints have forced a certain reduction in quality. It is now possible with our cores to have the best of both worlds: streaming of live events in HD and best-in-class quality. And as always, we keep delivering the densest FPGA solutions, which translates into reduced cost for our customers.” said Gael Rouvroy, CTO of intoPIX.

intoPIX’s new hardware implementation is now capable of processing images with latencies as low as 1 frame for the entire encoding and decoding chain. This corresponds to 20 milliseconds at 50 frames per second or 40 milliseconds at 25 frames per second. As Mr. Rouvroy stated, “our latest optimizations allow us to minimize the processing latency while providing the best image quality at any bit rate.” Objective assessment tests have proved that visual quality of the IPX-JPHD IP Cores are comparable to images produced by the Kakadu reference software, while providing faster than real-time encoding. Specifications of the IPX-JPHD IP-Cores will be available at the intoPIX booth SU 7523A during NAB 09, where intoPIX will be demonstrating its multi-stream HD channel management capabilities. Also on display will be a quality assessment demonstration presenting JPEG 2000 visual encoding quality at different broadcast bitrates.

About intoPIX

intoPIX develops and commercializes high end image processing and security tools in large data streams with high intrinsic value. The applications are aimed especially at pictures having demanding requirements in quality, security and authoring rights. Based in Louvainla- Neuve (Belgium), intoPIX was established in 2005, quickly becoming the international reference for hardware JPEG 2000 coding solutions. More information on the company and the products can be found on the website at www.intopix.com