Product category:
Reference Designs
News Release from: Toshiba Electronics Europe | Subject: Donau reference design
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 29 March 2006
Two-channel design is basis for personal
video
A digital TV reference platform simplifies the implementation of personal video recorders, set top boxes and iDTV equipment requiring the simultaneous decoding of dual video streams.
Toshiba Electronics Europe has developed a digital TV reference platform that will significantly simplify the implementation of personal video recorders (PVRs), set top boxes (STBs) and iDTV equipment requiring the simultaneous decoding of dual video streams Based on Toshiba's Donau TC9040yXBG/FG system-on-chip MPEG decoding solution, the new reference platform includes customisable hardware and all of the software required to realise a fully featured dual-stream STB or PVR
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The platform uses the power of the Donau SoC to enable genuine dual-stream functionality for simultaneous decode and output of video to two external devices.
Alternatively, the dual stream capability can be used to provide enhanced user experience such as picture-in-picture (PiP) capabilities.
A wide range of standard and optional interfaces include two SCART connectors; Ethernet connectivity for IP TV; USB host capability, enabling communication with memory sticks and other devices; and SPDIF for multichannel audio output.
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The reference platform hardware comprises a compact PCB that couples the Donau IC with up to 64Mbyte DRAM and up to 16Mbyte NOR Flash.
A typical STB or iDTV application needs 16Mbyte DRAM and 4Mbyte NOR Flash.
The PCB includes a dual tuner section realised via a Micronas front-end and Alps twin-tuner, with an optional connector to permit the use of the designer's own choice of front-end and tuner components.
An onboard video routing chip provides dual video/audio output via the two SCART connectors.
A hard-disk interface, single-slot smartcard interface, onboard four-digit display controller, and RS232 interface are all included as options, allowing the same basic platform to be used for a wide variety of STB and PVR applications.
The core design can also drive three LEDs, and provides a keyboard interface.
Customisation and development support includes the Linux operating system and a complete PVR reference application based on field proven software.
Plug-in modules are available to provide E-JTAG and Ethernet controller interfaces.
The award winning TC9040yXBG/FG Donau SoC at the heart of the reference platform combines Toshiba's Media embedded Processor (MeP) architecture with a powerful 64bit embedded RISC host.
It is the on-chip MeP modules that help to deliver the feature set vital for designers of dual-stream STBs and PVRs: dual-stream MPEG-2 video decoding; three-stream audio processing to AAC, MPEG and AC-3 standards; audio post-processing including surround-sound and EQ functions; and a powerful multi-plane graphics engine with hardware accelerator.
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