Silicon Hive announces HiveFlex VSP 2500 World's first fully-programmable multi-processor solution for Full High Definition (1080p) video codecs

November 13, 2007 -- Silicon Hive B.V. (Eindhoven, Netherlands) announces the HiveFlex VSP 2500 Video Signal Processing solution for Full High Definition (HD) video codecs. It is the world’s first fully-programmable video coding solution for Full HD (1080p). The Hive VSP 2500 is a multi-processor system that scales with unique tile architecture. By adding or removing tiles, SoC platform owners can address various operating points in terms of area, power, and performance. A two-tile system can be programmed in software to support 1080p 30fps H.264 baseline Level 4 decoding using a 225MHz Clock. Adding more tiles extends the Hive Flex 2500’s functionality addressing encoding and transcoding applications, and even enables further video processing such as scaling, frame-rate conversion, and noise reduction to be realized. Other standards are programmable in software as well, including but not limited to, VC-1, MPEG-2 & MPEG-4. The solution is also scalable to lower performance points like HD-ready (720p) & SD (576p).

The HiveFlex VSP 2500 builds on the tiled architecture of the already announced VSP 2200 series. The Full HD Decoding hardware is supported by three VLIW processors; two VLIW processors that have unique tile architectures, and one Stream Processor meant for entropy coding. The Silicon Hive announces HiveFlex VSP 2500 World’s first fully-programmable multi-processor solution for Full High Definition (1080p) video codecs

Silicon Hive B.V. (Eindhoven, Netherlands) announces the HiveFlex VSP 2500 Video Signal Processing solution for Full High Definition (HD) video codecs. It is the world’s first fully-programmable video coding solution for Full HD (1080p). The Hive VSP 2500 is a multi-processor system that scales with unique tile architecture. By adding or removing tiles, SoC platform owners can address various operating points in terms of area, power, and performance. A two-tile system can be programmed in software to support 1080p 30fps H.264 baseline Level 4 decoding using a 225MHz Clock. Adding more tiles extends the Hive Flex 2500’s functionality addressing encoding and transcoding applications, and even enables further video processing such as scaling, frame-rate conversion, and noise reduction to be realized. Other standards are programmable in software as well, including but not limited to, VC-1, MPEG-2 & MPEG-4. The solution is also scalable to lower performance points like HD-ready (720p) & SD (576p).

The HiveFlex VSP 2500 builds on the tiled architecture of the already announced VSP 2200 series. The Full HD Decoding hardware is supported by three VLIW processors; two VLIW processors that have unique tile architectures, and one Stream Processor meant for entropy coding. The hardware architecture also includes small but powerful 2D Vector/Scalar DMA engines to reduce I/O overheads. With this solution, Silicon Hive addresses the challenges of HD codecs, namely

• high computational complexity,
• high data bandwidth requirements (2.5-3 GB/s)

Since the solution is fully-programmable, chip companies can adopt a platform approach to reduce life-cycle costs, and introduce SoC’s with multi-standard CODECs and differentiating video signal processing features.

The HiveFlex VSP 2500 solution is available for licensing today. It is delivered as a synthesizable soft IP core, with support for synthesis, characterization, test-vectors and test logic insertion. Being a complete and modular subsystem, the VSP2500 can be integrated in SoC;s at minimal complexity and risk. The solution is supported by Silicon Hive's Software Development Tools including the HiveCC compiler, Multi-core API, and the HiveGates Hardware Emulation System.

About Silicon Hive B.V.

Silicon Hive is a worldwide supplier of semiconductor intellectual property. The company designs, builds and licenses application-specific solutions for communications, imaging, and video processing using its tuned programmable HiveFlex processor cores. IP cores are supported by HiveCC program development tools, and partner supplied application libraries. Silicon Hive products enable semiconductor and consumer electronics companies to make fully programmable System-on-Chips (SoCs) improving time to market performance. The patented technology originates from 10 years of research within Philips Research and more recent improvements, additions, and commercialization by Silicon Hive. Silicon Hive B.V. is a venture funded company with investments from New Venture Partners LLC, TVM Capital GmbH, and Philips. http://www.siliconhive.com