While designing, it is critical to pick the appropriate codec or formats that can be handled by a video IP to support any given application. It is also very important to select the correct video IP with proper and standard interfaces so that it can be as close as possible to 'plug-and-play' in terms of SoC integration.

In this exclusive, Ravishankar Ganesan, VP, SoC IP Business Unit, Ittiam Systems, discusses the salient points regarding selection of video IP for SoC designs with Pradeep Chakraborty of CIOL. Excerpts:

CIOL: How important is the selection of the video IP for SoC designs?

Ravishankar Ganesan: SoCs use the divide and conquer strategy very well. System on a Chip (SOC) is truly today defining and integrating multiple specialized blocks or subsystems keeping the target application of the SoC in mind. Each one of these specialized subsystems needs to be the best in terms of its performance, area and power so that the SoC can be the best, competitive and well suited for the target market.

The video Intellectual Property (IP) is one of these specialized subsystems, and hence, critically important for SoCs, which are targeted for video based applications. Needless to mention, there is no one video IP that 'fits all' video SoCs.

CIOL: What should any SoC designer look for in terms of supporting video profiles and codecs?

RG: This really depends on the application(s) for which the SoC is likely to address. If you are targeting video IP for mobile TV application in a cellular phone, the profiles and codecs will get determined by the appropriate broadcasting system.

Similarly, if the SoC is targeting the high-definition ((HD) DVD player segment, the video codecs and their profiles/levels needs to be determined based on the video encoder configuration that was used to create the content on the DVD disc.

CIOL: How should one go about selecting/understanding video codecs?

RG: As mentioned earlier, it is very critical to pick the appropriate codec or formats that can be handled by the video IP to support the given application. It is also very important to pick the video IP with the proper and standard interfaces so that it can be as close as to "plug and play" in terms of the SoC integration. The area and power dissipation are important as well, so that the SoC can be sold at competitive price in the market.