- Calibre has released what they call "the industry’s first" virtual-ASIC video processor capable of scaling, switching, enhancing, correcting, and converting Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) formats, including 4K and WQXGA at compelling price points through efficient implementation.
Herve Mer, Market Development Manager at Altera Corporation and Tim Brooksbank, Chairman, Calibre UK at the official launch at ISE 2015, Amsterdam RAI.
Calibre’s virtual-ASIC technology is based on Altera field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and will be offered as Calibre Pro-AV products as well as OEM own-label, board-level and full custom options for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This will enable rapid creation of new video products for the professional audiovisual industry as the new UHD video formats become widely adopted.
Calibre has a proven track record in advanced video design with real video processor ASICs such as Silicon Optix’ Reon built on award-winning HQV (Hollywood Quality Video) algorithms.
As the industry is moving to designing UHD products, design engineers find that qualified ASICs no longer exist to meet their needs. This, as the companies which traditionally produced such technology have been acquired and technology refocused in volume consumer markets over recent years. This situation together with UHD forcing new system architecture has opened a unique opportunity for Calibre.
“Calibre’s virtual-ASIC is an innovative solution that addresses the Pro-AV industry’s needs for a cost-effective UHD video processor, originally created and supported by Calibre for a high quality, easy to use design experience,” said Herve Mer, Market Development Manager at Altera Corporation. “Calibre’s decision to choose Altera FPGAs, enabling a programmable semiconductor platform, means its customers will have the flexibility for rapid integration to meet theirspecific needs.”
Calibre has designed the unique component set in-house enabling it to be more efficient, and responsive to customer needs. It offers compatibility with future processing requirements as well as FPGA device families to ensure design re-use as standards and customer requirements progress.
Set To Take The Industry By Storm
Key technology advances include Calibre’s HQUltra low latency high-performance and highly efficient scaling algorithm and HQUltraFast input channel switching capable of changing inputs in under 0.25 seconds.
Projection Mapping is another perfect target application, supported by Calibre’sHQUltraWarp algorithm in the warp-enabled version of Calibre’s virtual-ASIC. High quality real-time UHD warping requires extreme processing capability which is available due to the combination of Calibre’s efficient algorithms and architecture together with the inherent high performance of Altera’s FPGAs. For example HQUltraWarp supports real-time live adjustment of geometric mapping points for warp and blend providing easy manual warp alignment without the need for external calibration software.
