Hi James, I think the programmable logic chip (FPGA) would do the PCI "physical layer" and either a FIFO for memory writes, or a memory required for VGA image buffer (32kB?). The VGA would be simpler to emulate via FPGA than via software, mostly because of timing. And it would require something like Spartan 3E-500 (the largest in 208 pin package with normal legs).
I would rather see this chip in place of accelerating video decoding - you can put this small FPGA with hardcoded VGA and the let the TI to decode video streams into an overlay memory. The video buffer should reside in that 32bit DDR2.. so it is sure enough for Full HD display and decode in parallel, but it will not do 60p as VGA requires [60Hz refresh], just 1080i - interlaced [data rate equals to 30Hz refresh]. It's a chip designed for digital still cameras, so the playable bit-rate would not be too high. Daniel James Richard Tyrer wrote: > I wonder if this idea would now be viable. TI says that the TMS320DM365 > > http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/tms320dm365.html > > will do H.264 at 1080p through the use of an on chip co-processor > > This will run Linux (on the ARM) and TI is now supporting GStreamer. > > It has Ethernet built in and a lot of GPIO pins that would mean that it > could be expanded with additional hardware. It has built in analog > video output. > > I am guessing that the ARM could emulate VGA with minimal hardware > support. It includes a 64 channel DMA controller. > > My only reservation is the 32 bit memory interface. Would 32 bit DDR2 > be fast enough? Many commercial boards tout a wider memory interface. > > It would be possible to make an Ethernet connected video "board" with > this. The question would be how well it would do regular video > acceleration and OpenGL with mostly software. > > Would a demo board be possible with this, a programmable logic chip > (what size? -- only a small one would be needed to do VGA emulation if > most of it was in [ARM] software), and the necessary I/O hardware? > _______________________________________________ Open-hardware-ethervideo mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-hardware-ethervideo
