As multimedia systems grow in complexity, system and SoC developers are increasingly relying on vendors to provide “solutions”—combinations of hardware and software that implement complete multimedia functions such as audio and video compression and decompression. Vendors have responded by offering a growing number of such solutions.
This has created a new challenge for system and SoC developers: vendors’ claims regarding the functionality and performance of their solutions are difficult to interpret and often impossible to compare. Even with standards-based functions, there’s no standardization of functionality and performance claims—and vendor claims can end up looking very different. For example, one vendor may claim that its H.264 decoder solution supports “H.264 Main Profile @ L3 @ D1 (720*480 @ 30 fps for NTSC, 720*576 @ 25 fps for PAL)” at 250 MHz; another may state that its solution supports “H.264 Baseline Profile @ D1 (30 fps, 10 Mbps)” at 300 MHz. Because the vendors specify different variants of the H.264 standard, and do not provide other key information (e.g., specifics of the stream being decoded), it is impossible to make meaningful comparisons based on this type of data.
To enable vendors and system designers to make credible and reliable comparisons of solutions, BDTI introduced the BDTI Solution Certification Service™. BDTI’s Solution Certification Service involves two phases: (1) The vendor measures the performance of its solution using BDTI’s standardized data sets, parameters, and metrics, and (2) BDTI independently verifies the vendor’s results and certifies the performance of the solution.
BDTI certification benefits a vendor in several important ways. First, passing BDTI’s rigorous certification process is a strong indication that the vendor has a real, production-worthy solution, not vaporware. This can be particularly important for vendors new to an application space. Second, BDTI’s standardized performance metrics, test streams, and operating points allow vendors to generate performance data that can be used for fair, apples-to-apples comparisons. And third, use of BDTI’s real-world, well-documented operating points, metrics, and test streams ensure that performance results will be accepted by customers as meaningful and credible. Ultimately, enhanced credibility and more meaningful performance data open up sales opportunities for solution vendors and simplify customer evaluations, accelerating time to revenue.
A licensable silicon IP vendor recently obtained certification for its H.264 decoder solution. BDTI’s Solution Certification service is also appropriate for vendors of chips and software IP. Contact BDTI for more information on Solution Certification
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