***IBM Announces MPEG-2 Decoders for Professional Broadcasting
Equipment Manufacturers
(December 13)
According to DACafe, IBM has announced two digital audio/video
decoder chips designed to meet professional editing, mastering,
and broadcasting needs. The chips, designated MPEGCS24 and
MPEGCS24D, are designed for audio and video-decoding equipment
used by the media and entertainment industries for a range of
applications. For example, the chips decompress digital video and
deliver MPEG-2 422@ML content for primary and secondary
distribution, contribution, and related professional markets.
These integrated decoder chips also incorporate dual audio
decoders permitting two independent audio streams to be
simultaneously decoded, delivering either MPEG and/or Dolby
Digital audio output.
The MPEGCS24 and MPEGCS24D chips are intended to augment IBM's
previously announced MPEGCD20 and MPEGCD21 line of decoder
products. The decoders also serve as the decompression companion
for IBM's most recent line of encoders, the "S" Series, including
the S422, E422, and S420 encoders.
The technical aspects of these chips are:
**Transport stream demultiplexer: The transport stream
demultiplexer separates the audio and video data and directs this
information to other subsystems of the CS24 decoder for
processing.
-An integrated transport compliant with the ISO/IEC 13818-1
system layer standard.
-Capability to accept continuous input at up to 160 Mb/s in
parallel format or up to 60 Mb/s in serial format.
-Features, such as: advanced data error detection, reporting
and concealment; programmable PID and table filtering; flexible
packet data routing to facilitate design of high-performance,
complex systems with minimum required external components.
**MPEG-2 video decoder: The MPEG-2 video decoder subsystem
decompresses the video data and provides crisp images for display
on a television or studio monitor.
-The video decoder is capable of decoding main profile at main
level (MP@ML) and 4:2:2 profile at main level (4:2:2P@ML) MPEG-2
video in compliance with the ISO/IEC 13818-2 standards.
-It supports the European DVB standard and it can decode both
elementary streams and packetized elementary streams at rates up
to 50 Mb/s.
-The decoder operates using a single 27 MHz clock and has a 16-
bit SDRAM memory interface supporting 4 MB and 8 MB memory
configurations. The CS24 and CS24D include video features such as
horizontal and vertical filtering, pan and scan, on-screen
display support, 3:2 pulldown support, VBI output support and
audio and video synchronization.
**MPEG and Dolby Digital audio decoders: These subsystems
decompress the audio data and provide digitally reconstructed
sound supporting industry standard audio interfaces.
-The chips have two integrated audio decoders that can operate
simultaneously. The CS24 supports MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 Layer I and
II audio in compliance with the ISO/IEC 13818-3 standard. In the
case of the CS24D, the audio decoders can be configured to decode
MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 or Dolby Digital 5.1 channel audio.
The MPEGCS24 and MPEGCS24D decoders are available immediately.
Wave Issue 2000 1/3/00 Article 3-03