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Desktop videoconferencing with picture quality superior to today's best room-sized systems now is available from Texas Instruments. Combining the 2-billion-operations-per-second (BOPS) horsepower of TI's TMS320C80 multimedia video processor (MVP) with a muscular implementation of the international H.320 videoconferencing standard, the TI system opens the door to videoconferencing on millions of desktop computers.
While other silicon makers offer chipsets that comply with the H.320 standard, TI's highly integrated 'C80-based solution is the only one that produces sharp images and virtually eliminates blocky artifacts, says TI Fellow Karl Guttag, chief architect of the TMS320C80. According to Guttag, TI's new system achieves superior video quality and audio/video synchronization for two reasons:
The 'C80, capable of performing 2 BOPS, is the most powerful digital signal processor (DSP) on the market today. The device's programmability allows TI to take maximum advantage of existing and emerging video and audio standards.
TI's software provides the most comprehensive implementation of the H.320 standard available. Sophisticated motion estimation, which allows retransmission of only those parts of a picture that change from one frame to the next, along with other features such as loop-back filtering, delivers clarity and minimizes the blockiness often associated with videoconfer-encing.
"H.320 is a standard that allows machines from various manufacturers to communicate with each other in the same way that the fax standard allows various fax machines to communicate," explained Guttag. "But unlike the fax standard, H.320 provides a lot of latitude in implementation. Only TI has chosen to implement the greatest possible number of features that enhance quality."
While TI's new 'C80-based software is designed specifically for H.320 videoconfer-encing applications, it also serves with H.324 and other variations of the standard. JPEG and MPEG capabilities facilitate development of a wide range of multimedia functions on a single add-in board. And the 'C80's programmability means that revisions to the standards can be implemented without hardware modifications.
The new TI H.320 Software Library includes standard H.261 video compression along with audio modules G.728, G.722 and G.711 and communication modules H.221, H.242 and H.230. Other functions include:
TI's H.320 Software Library is available under license in a variety of forms to suit OEM customers. TI offers source code, object code and mixed source/object code. Future developments to meet end users' increasing multimedia requirements are slated to include real-time MPEG record and playback and V.34 modem capability.
May 1995, vol. 12, no. 4