|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
XILINX VIRTEX-II PRO FPGAs ENABLE PANDORA'S NEWEST
3-D COLOUR CUBE
SAN JOSE, Calif., and Singapore, June 15, 2004 - At the Broadcast
Asia show today, Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX), the world leader in
programmable logic solutions and Pandora International, a leader
in digital film post production equipment headquartered in London,
announced a collaboration that resulted in Pandora's newest 3-D
Colour Cube. Following it's debut at NAB Las Vegas in April, REVOLUTION
True , a 3-D colour cube capable of generating all possible colour
mappings for 14-bit RGB video, exploited the Xilinx Virtex-II Pro
FPGA architecture with on-board IBM PowerPC processor, to significantly
reduce system complexity and memory footprint as compared to conventional
colour cubes. REVOLUTION True enables many types of equipment, including
projectors and monitors, to add sophisticated colour correction
features at relatively low-cost.
REVOLUTION True changes the economics of colour correction by using
the embedded IBM PowerPC processor of the Virtex-II Pro to host
a software interpolator capable of interpolating every possible
colour value using only a small amount of input data. It is supported
by custom logic also implemented in the Virtex-II Pro, which creates
a highly integrated solution. By comparison, a standalone look-up
table capable of storing every possible colour value for 14-bit
RGB values would require more than 23,000 GB of memory. The new
design based on Virtex-II Pro saves the costs associated with such
large quantities of memory, and allows powerful colour correction
features to be added to a wide variety of professional video equipment.
The REVOLUTION True technology now makes it cost-effective to add
a single-board colour corrector to each projector throughout a multiplex
cinema network, to ensure consistent image quality on all screens.
REVOLUTION True will also be used in movie post-production, where
it allows colour correction work to accurately represent the colour
space of the target medium, usually film. Adding REVOLUTION True
in line with the monitor can bar colours that cannot be reproduced
accurately on film, presenting the operator with a more accurate
view of how the completed film will appear.
Steve Brett, Technical Director at Pandora International, explained
that the size and cost of a traditional colour cube tool restricted
their use to very few applications in large video editing facilities.
"Even with current memory costs the scale of the look-up tables
necessary to implement a colour cube using conventional techniques
soon becomes impractical," he said. "By exploiting the
high degree of integration provided by Virtex-II Pro, especially
the embedded PowerPC processor capable of implementing our unique
software interpolation algorithms on-board the FPGA, we can now
offer the functionality of a colour cube cost-effectively on a single
board. This will open up many new markets, for example where users
need to compensate for the unique colour space characteristics of
different media such as video tape, DVD or film."
About Xilinx Virtex-II Pro Platform FPGAs
Xilinx Virtex-II Pro Platform FPGAs offer the ideal connectivity
solutions, providing the high-speed programmable fabric and system-level
building blocks needed to successfully interface to the latest generation
of advanced memory devices. The Virtex-II Pro device is the world's
first and only FPGA to offer integrated IBM PowerPC embedded technology
and multi-gigabit transceivers at no additional charge. With over
10,000 customer engagements, Virtex-II Pro FPGAs are experiencing
rapid adoption in a wide-range of applications.
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic
solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.
-30-
# 0475
|
|