Rockwell chips result in a PC-based digital video camera with PCI bus interface for $99...........
newsalert.com
<<Bt832 Video Processor Mates Rockwell's CMOS Digital Camera to
Company's Fusion Video Decoder Chips for Complete, Sub-$99
Desktop PC Video Products Using High-performance PCI Bus
Rockwell Semiconductor Systems Monday introduced a new digital camera processor chip for use with the company's
QuartzSight CMOS digital camera and Fusion family of PCI decoder chips.
The Bt832 camera processor chip generates the industry's lowest-cost camera-capture solution for video conferencing, video
email and video editing applications, and enables OEMs to create a board-level product including camera that can reach the
coveted $99 retail price point.
Rockwell's Bt832 camera processor chip provides camera image processing and automatic exposure and color balancing
control capabilities, and supports frame rates up to 30 frames-per-second (fps) with crisp, clear CIF (352x288-pixel) and
QCIF (176x144-pixel) image sizes. Although the Bt832 can be used to integrate the QuartzSight camera into any multimedia
subsystem (including sideport video decoders, graphics controllers and MPEG II devices that support a CCIR656 input
port), it has been optimized for use with Rockwell's Fusion family of PCI video decoders.
"The availability of compelling video-dependent software applications has created a rapidly growing market for
high-performance PCI-based video solutions which turn the PC into a robust video, communications and entertainment
platform as envisioned by companies like Microsoft and Intel," said John Graham, director of marketing for Rockwell's Digital
Infotainment Division.
"A key initiative of Rockwell's Digital Infotainment Division has been to make high-quality video easy to integrate on the PCI
bus. Our new Bt832 digital camera processor chip is a key element in our offering. Together, our camera processor chip, PCI
decoder solution and digital camera can now be used to create products with retail prices in the $99 to $159 range that used
to cost from $200 to $350. With this quality at these price points, we are offering the opportunity for a whole new world of
exciting video-based applications for home and business." >>
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<<Rockwell's Digital Infotainment Division is a leading pioneer in PCI-based video and communication technologies that marry
high-quality video decoding and scaling capabilities with sophisticated PCI bus-mastering techniques. The company's proven
Bt848A video-capture device was the first of its kind to use an intelligent DMA engine and high-performance PCI bus master
module to enable a direct connection to the PCI bus. This eliminated the need for a separate connection to the PC's graphics
controller, and enabled superior video scaling plus overlay support that is not limited by the frame buffer size.
Rockwell's second-generation Fusion family extends this platform by also capturing broadcast TV audio and stereo FM radio
without the cabling and extra cost associated with previous architectures. Fusion lets users listen to a stereo radio broadcast,
watch their favorite TV news program, send videomail, conduct videoconferences with friends and associates, or receive VBI
data services like Teletext, Intel's Intercast and WavePhore's WaveTop.
Fusion is easily integrated with the Bt832 and QuartzSight CMOS digital camera. QuartzSight offers a significantly more
cost-effective solution than CCD analog cameras, and supports low-cost H.324 videoconferencing over analog phone lines,
H.323 videoconferencing over LANs or the Internet, and other applications that require real-time video acquisition.
QuartzSight delivers 24-bit full-color video at programmable variable frame rates with CIF or QCIF resolution, and its
QuartzLink 9-pin interface can quickly be added to any PCI card. The Bt832 then takes RGB data from the QuartzSight
camera and preprocesses the data into a YCrCb format that is compliant with CCIR656 or the popular Video Input Port
(VIP). [NOTE: The Intel i740 and CUBE's ZiVA have a VIP interface.] The Bt832 also performs color restoration, gamma correction and color space conversion and, when used with Fusion,
outputs a CCIR656 data stream to Fusion's PCI bus master.
Other features of the Bt832 include programmability for adjusting QuartzSight's brightness, contrast, saturation, color gain, hue
and gamma settings. The Bt832 also offers hardware-based automatic exposure control and color balance to offload these
highly intensive camera image processing tasks from the host.
The Bt832 is available now and is priced at $5.50 in OEM quantities of 10,000. Rockwell's QuartzSight camera is also
available now and is priced at $39 in OEM quantities of 10,000. >> |
