Tensilica's Audio-Video Solutions

Tensilica and its partners offer a wide range of audio and video sub-system platforms that cover the entire of gamut of requirements of the multimedia landscape.

The Diamond 330HiFi and the Xtensa HiFi 2 Audio Engine perform 24-bit high-fidelity audio encode and decode and optionally come with a complete of set of audio codecs. Tens of millions of cellular phones have been shipped with Tensilica's HiFi Audio Engine. See some of these handsets.

The Diamond Standard 38xVDO family of video processor engines are customized for multi-standard, multi-resolution video in SOC designs. Targeted at mobile handsets and personal media players (PMPs), these video subsystems are fully programmable to support all popular VGA and standard definition (SD, also known as D1) video codecs with resolutions up to 720x480 (NTSC) and 720x576 (PAL) including H.264 Main Profile, VC-1 Main Profile, MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP), and MPEG-2 Main Profile, each of which is available from Tensilica. Lower resolutions are also supported.

Additionally, Tensilica's partners offer a spectrum of programmable video encode and decode sub-systems that cover the range of video standards (H.264, VC1, MPEG-4, MPEG-2) and video resolutions (QCIF, CIF, VGA, D1, HD).

Tensilica's processors can be used in a wide variety of consumer products ranging from high-definition video to portable music players, DVD recorders and digital video cameras.

Alternatively, several of Tensilica’s customers have built their own video engines and other audio-video solutions based on the Xtensa technology. New Technical Article! See "Creating multi-standard, multi-resolution video engines using configurable processors."

Used in Many Consumer Applications

Tensilica’s Diamond Standard and Xtensa processors are well accepted in a wide range of consumer applications because of the inherent performance and time-to-market advantages of using an application-specific processor. Because Tensilica’s processors are lower power, they are ideal for hand-held portable devices. Here are some of Tensilica’s customers that are developing consumer devices utilizing Xtensa processors:

AMD / ATI – “In our evaluation, we were very impressed with the suitability of Tensilica’s Xtensa processor for numerous functions in our complex SOC designs,” stated Adrian Hartog, CTO, ATI. “By adding functions in Xtensa processors, rather than hand coding them in RTL, we can make these functions programmable, giving us plenty of flexibility for changing standards and feature sets.”

Avision – Avision Inc., the leading Taiwanese supplier of multi-function printing/copying/scanning office products, is using the Xtensa processor in a scanner product.

Epson - Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”) is using Xtensa processors in next-generation imaging products. According to Katsuhiko Nishizawa, General Manager of IJP Design Department of Imaging & Information Product Division of Seiko Epson Corporation, “We plan to use multiple Xtensa processors that we can specifically tailor for our exact applications.”

Hudson Soft - Hudson Soft is using Xtensa processors to deliver breakthrough graphics quality to manufacturers of small, battery-operated hand-held devices as well as specialty entertainment consoles.

LG Electronics – LG Electronics (Korea) integrated the Xtensa processor into an SOC for the Korean government’s Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) standard. Key applications include cellular phones for the local market as well as portable devices such as PDAs and digital televisions.

NTT Communications Corporation (Japan) - NTT is a Tensilica Xtensa licensee. NTT Electronics Corp. (NEL) designed two high-performance MPEG-2 CODECs using Tensilica’s Xtensa cores.

NVIDIA - NVIDIA licensed the Xtensa LX processor to add specialized functions to its outstanding graphics capabilities in new SOC designs. “For the application areas we are targeting, the extensibility and performance of Tensilica’s Xtensa LX microprocessor were key factors in our license decision,” stated Chris Malachowsky, Co-Founder and Vice President of Hardware Engineering, NVIDIA. “We were very impressed with Tensilica’s automated approach for both the processor extensions and the generation of the associated software tools.”

For more information on some of the most popular consumer applications, click on the links in the left navigation bar.