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BDTI H.264 Video Decoder Solution CertificationTM
About the BDTI H.264 Solution
Certification
Service™
BDTI H.264 Video Decoder Solution Certification™
is a variant of BDTI Solution Certification™
that enables credible and reliable performance evaluations of H.264
video decoders. BDTI H.264 Video Decoder Solution Certification™
involves two phases: (1) a vendor
configures an existing H.264 video decoder in a manner
compliant with BDTI’s specification and runs BDTI’s test streams, (2) BDTI certifies the
performance of the solution.
All performance metrics reported for the BDTI H.264 Video Decoder Solution
Certification™ are for proprietary
BDTI H.264 bitstreams. The BDTI H.264 bitstreams are created from
a proprietary BDTI video clip encoded with typical parameter
settings. The BDTI video clip
content is somewhat more computationally demanding than average for a
typical full-length video clip (although it is not intended to uncover
the worst case processing requirements for a solution).
Results for licensable silicon IP solutions are based on BDTI
Core Conditions, which
specify a set of uniform conditions (fabrication
process, temperature, voltage, etc.) used to derive the clock speed,
area, and power consumption for each solution.
To obtain BDTI Solution Certification for your processing engine,
please contact
BDTI.
Operating Points:
The Operating Points (OPs) associated with BDTI H.264
Video Decoder Solution Certification are shown in Table 1.
While the parameters listed in Table 1 (H.264 profile, H.264 level,
image resolution, frame rate, and bit rate) have the largest impact on
performance metrics, numerous additional parameters also affect
performance. These parameters are fully defined in BDTI's proprietary
bit streams.
|
OP
Number
|
OP
Type
|
Profile
|
Resolution
|
Frame
Rate
|
Maximum
Bit Rate
|
1
|
Primary
|
Baseline
|
D1
(720x480)
|
30 fps
|
1.5
Mbps |
2
|
Secondary |
Baseline
|
D1
(720x480) |
30 fps |
384
kbps |
3
|
Secondary
|
Baseline |
D1
(720x480) |
30 fps |
10
Mbps |
4
|
Secondary |
Baseline |
VGA
(640 x 480) |
30 fps |
768
kbps |
5
|
Secondary |
Baseline |
CIF
(352 x 288) |
30 fps |
768
kbps |
6
|
Secondary |
Baseline |
CIF
(352 x 288) |
15 fps |
384
kbps |
Table
1: BDTI H.264 Operating Points.
The "OP Type" in the second column indicates whether the Operating
Point is a Primary Operating Point or a Secondary Operating
Point. The
single Primary Operating Point one of the most processor
demanding of the Operating Points. It is assumed that the
Secondary
Operating Points are supported by a solution capable of supporting the
Primary Operating Point. The Secondary Operating Points are
included
because:
- It is desirable to test the functionality of several
configurations and the Secondary Operating points represent scenarios
that may be encountered in typical applications.
- It is desirable to obtain performance metrics at multiple Operating Points to show
tradeoffs and to instill higher degree of confidence in the performance results.
BDTI makes results for H.264 Video Decoder Solution Certification™ at the Primary
Operating Point available free of charge via its web site.
For more detailed results, including results for the Secondary Operating Points,
please contact
BDTI.
Performance Metrics
The following metrics are reported for H.264 Video Decoder Solution
Certification:
Required Solution Clock Rate
(MHz):
The required solution clock rate is reported as the minimum clock speed
required for real-time operation. For solutions requiring
external memory, solution clock rate requirements are reported for a
number of external memory access times.
It is common for H.264 video decoder solutions to buffer output
frames. Buffering output frames allows the processing required to
decode a frame to be spread over multiple frames. Since the
processing load varies considerably per frame due to changes in the
video content, adding "delay buffers" to buffer output frames
significantly reduces the required clock rate—at the expense of
increased latency. For this reason, BDTI also reports the minimum
clock rate required for real-time operation for a number of delay
buffers as shown in Figure 1.
Figure
1: Block diagram showing the placement of a “delay buffer” for BDTI
H.264 Video Decoder
Solution Certification.
External Memory Bandwidth
Utilization (MB/s):
For solutions requiring an external memory device, the minimum
external memory bandwidth required for real-time operation is reported
when buffering a varying number of output frames in a manner similar to
CPU utilization as discussed above.
Total Memory Usage:
The program, static data, and dynamic data memory usage of the solution
is reported, in bytes.
Cost:
The cost of the solution is reported as follows:
- For chips: Quantity 10,000 price for the chip
- For licensable cores: Silicon area for the solution
For solutions requiring
external memory, the characteristics of the external memory device are
reported and should be considered when evaluating the overall solution
cost.
Energy/Power Usage:
The energy usage of the solution is reported in joules per frame.
The reported energy usage result may be an estimate based on simulation or, optionally, an actual physical energy
measurement. The
disclosure results note whether energy estimates or energy measurements
are provided.
To obtain BDTI Solution Certification for your processing engine,
please contact
BDTI.
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