Harmonic choose Stratix FPGA for its video broadcast encoder

Harmonic has selected Stratix III FPGAs for its next-generation high-definition (HD) H.264 1080p video broadcast encoder.

Altera Stratix III devices are used in Harmonic's DiviCom Electra 8000, the world's first encoding and transcoding platform to support MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) and MPEG-2 CODECs in standard-definition (SD) and HD formats up to full frame-rate 1080p 50/60.

"Harmonic's DiviCom Electra 8000 sets the benchmark for real-time video-processing technology," said Nimrod Ben-Natan, Vice President of Product Marketing, Solutions and Strategy for Harmonic Inc. "Altera's Stratix III FPGAs help us enhance our video algorithms. Altera offers clear FPGA leadership in digital signal processing (DSP) and external memory performance, while still delivering low power requirements."

"Altera has made significant investments in our FPGA architecture and solutions to meet the demanding requirements of 1080p video-processing applications," said Arun Iyengar, senior director of Altera's broadcast and communications business units. "Altera's Stratix III FPGAs deliver twice the video-processing capability of previous-generation FPGAs while maintaining a constant power budget. This allows broadcast leaders like Harmonic to further differentiate its products."

Altera is showcasing 40-nm FPGA Development Kit with integrated triple Rate SDI at the 2009 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas, which is going on from Apr20-23, 2009.