TI intros new $51 HD video processor for digital signage (among a few things)

March 1, 2011 by Dave Haynes

Exercising the absolute caveat that I am no propeller-head and don’t pretend to understand much of the inner workings or many of the acronyms, I do know enough to find this release today from Texas Instruments quite interesting …

TI is introducing a new software compatible, power-efficient TMS320DM8148 DaVinci digital media processor that can do a single, high-performance, 1080p 60 fps video stream or three simultaneous 720p30 fps video streams, or multiple lower resolution streams, while consuming just three watts.

It also includes cutting-edge display and analytics capabilities, similar to the DM8168 DaVinci digital media processor, and it’s perfect for power-sensitive, consumer and medical video applications requiring fewer video streams. These applications include Skype™ video cameras, interactive digital signage, video surveillance DVRs or IP net cams, streaming media players and network projectors.

The DaVinci digital media processor is what’s under the extruded aluminum of that very nice but very expensive little box that SpinetiX sells as the core of its digital signage offer. You get small form-factor and pretty solid play-out capability in a fan-less, green player-thingie.

The higher volume price of the new TI processor is just $51/unit, with shipping in Q3.

Last week at DSE I saw a Taiwanese company peddling an ARM processor that was running Android 2.2 and driving multiple zones on a screen at HD quality. That’s a high-powered, fan-less, made-for-mobile solution that costs significantly less than most Intel or AMD processors.

Price remains a big deal in higher volume rollouts, as does form-factor in some cases. The smart guys in this space are already actively in R&D with solutions that move off the x86 PC platform, and increasingly, there’s stuff coming along that will do the job both on price and performance.