Wintech Digital Systems Technology is shipping a second-generation development platform for IP-video devices based on TI's DaVinci multimedia technology. The Video Communication Development Platform (VDP) II provides an integrated hardware/software platform for videophones, IPTVs, video conferencing devices, and other… IP-based video systems, and supports Linux, according to Wintech.

(Click here for slighly larger image of VDP II dev platform)

DaVinci

The claim to fame of DaVinci, based on TI's TMS320DM64x digital media processors and associated analog and digital components, is its ability to stream high-quality digital video to mobile devices. According to Wintech, DaVinci provides superior real-time video quality while dramatically lowering system cost and speeding time to market.

According to TI, the TMS320DM64x SoCs (system-on-chips) are highly integrated, dual-core chips that integrate a TI TMS320C64x+ DSP core along with an ARM926 RISC processor core, plus video accelerators, networking peripherals, and external memory/storage interfaces all “specifically tuned for video.” The TMS320DM6443 targets video decode applications, while the TMS320DM6446 targets both encode and decode applications.

TMS320DM64x block diagram

Wintech's VDP II development platform is based on the TI TMS320DM6466 SoC. The platform supports a wide range of popular peripheral interfaces, including USB, VGA, RS232 and ATA, as well as H.323 and SIP communication stacks, according to Wintech.

Specifically, the VDP II development platform comprises the following components:

• Videophone LCD display and camera subsystem
  
• Videophone processor board subsystem, power supply, connectivity interface, and keyboard
  
• Ethernet network hub and cables
  
• Software application frameworks
  
• Video codecs (H.264/H.263)
  
• Audio codecs (G.723/G.711)
  
• Communications stack (H.323)
  
• Network protocol (TCP/IP, RTP/RTCP)
  
• User interface and demo applications
  
• Quick start documents, user guides, software on CD-ROM

In addition to Linux, the VDP II supports Windows CE.

Availability

The Wintech VDP II is available from stock for just under $7000, according to the company.

The company's previous videophone reference design was based on Linux and Jaluna OSWare.

 
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