Everyone seems to be pretty crazed about this high-definition thing nowadays. Every major consumer electronics manufacturer is rolling out some sort of HD-enabled product, whether we're talking about a camcorder, a PC monitor or a TV set. However, it appears that a new development by eASIC might change this situation forever, enabling pretty much any device equipped with a display to output high-definition video.

According to the company's statement, its new eDV9200 is a low cost, single-chip high-definition H.264 CODEC that requires only a few external components and lowers the cost of entry into the high definition video market, enabling a new class of inexpensive applications to fully leverage the benefits offered by HD technology. This includes applications such as toys, baby monitors, public transportation, wireless video surveillance and wireless webcams.

“Our consumer video customers are looking to add innovative features while aggressively striving to stay competitive in this global economic downturn. The eDV9200 allows high-volume ODMs to quickly and inexpensively develop new products that can offer HD capability at a low system cost,” said Jasbinder Bhoot, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at eASIC. “eDV9200 is another solid testament to our Nextreme NEW ASIC technology which serves as the underlying platform to enable rapid development of application specific standard products (ASSPs).”

The eDV9200 is built around a fully programmable ITU-T compliant high definition baseline H.264 CODEC that supports all resolutions, including 1080p, 720p, VGA, HVGA, QVGA, CIF and QCIF and variable bit rate (VBR) or constant bit rate (CBR) capabilities. The eDV9200 is able to record streaming data directly from a CMOS sensor, compress it, and transfer it to a host system, or to a variety of storage devices.

The gadget is able to communicate directly with high-speed DDR/mobile DDR/DDR2 memories, TFT LCD displays and provides a number of user interfaces, including USB2.0, UART, SD card, SPI, I2C and parallel port. A highly-optimized 32-bit RISC processor provides complete and efficient system control and on screen display (OSD) capability.

Since this chip is clearly targeted at ODM manufacturers, its pricing is estimated for high volumes. Hence, the eDV9200 chip is housed in a 208 ball BGA package, with pricing starting at around $4.99 each.


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