TI提倡从核心转移转码

Streaming video and audio formats continue to proliferate, many times with no regard to past formats or future compatibility. 像这样, transcoding-the act of converting digital video from one file format to another-and transrating-the act of changing bitrates while maintaining the same format or codec-have become a standard part of large-scale streaming media distribution systems. But the ability to transcode or transrate at the point of need, when consumers want to move content from one player or format to another, 仍在继续落后.

In a new Texas Instruments-sponsored report from IDC, titled Transcoding: The Future of the Video Market Depends on It，详细介绍了转码的情况. 而报告的前提(发现) 在这里, free registration required)-that the evolution of video entertainment will cease without multi-format transcoding-is a bit overblown, 这份报告的实质是健全的.

听起来像TI的达芬奇剧本, the report synopsis notes that real-time transcoding is the key to growth in the video market:
Multi-format transcoding is the most important challenge to overcome for manufacturers and service providers to solve before realizing the potential tremendous growth in video. Consumers have an insatiable appetite for immersion in entertainment, and transcoding multiple formats in real time will be a necessary function for all future video products to be successful.

TI is well-positioned to take advantage of the growth in video, 尽管主要是点播内容. 如前所述 article, TI has moved away from just providing chipsets to providing a solution that allows developers to rapidly implement audio and video solutions. TI's DaVinci platform combined TI's core expertise in digital signal processing (DSP) with software that allowed product developers to monitor the throughput of processes across the DSP.

最重要的是，TI也 最近 added several of its own and key third-party codecs to the DaVinci platform, 为开发人员提供捆绑的, 具有成本效益的编码和解码解决方案. Several of TI's chipsets also allow for on-the-fly flashing, meaning that the DSP can play content in one format but 然后, 在很短的时间内, 转储当前编解码器并加载另一个编解码器. This is especially important for products such as next-generation DVD players (HD DVD or Blu-ray) which are required to allow content playback in MPEG-2, VC-1, 或H.264.

TI has not been content to rest on the laurels of DSP flashing, however. The company makes chips that go into everything from cell phones to robust servers, and TI is aware that content encoded and played on its high-end DSPs will choke a low-power chipset in a cell phone, as these small chipsets trade off power for battery life. 为了解决问题, TI has begun to evangelize the need for transcoding in order to deliver content to the consumer in a format that is appropriate or desired for a particular playback device.

耶利米Golston, TI流媒体部门的首席技术官, has been especially vocal in evangelizing transcoding, 有时直接，有时间接. 在最近的 博客 资讯科技署网站, Golston paints a scenario in which high definition (1080i) is either too much or too little resolution, 为转码的需要而敞开大门.

"In some cases, HD is not needed at all," said Golston. "Standard definition is still the best tradeoff in applications like IPTV . . . w在这里 limited network bandwidth makes delivering even high-quality SD still a challenge. 相反，在某些情况下，HD是不够的. Medical imaging applications such as ultrasound require an even higher resolution than 1080i. State-of-the-art ultrasound applications require 4Kx2K to produce the detail needed to make proper diagnoses."

戈尔斯顿接着说, 这一点在IDC的新报告中得到了呼应, that manufacturers have to consider versatility of design to handle changing consumer demand.

透明国际和这份新报告支持的是什么, 然后, is a change in mindset on the part of product manufacturers. Rather than tying a device to one particular format, TI argues that product manufacturers should provide-w在这里 appropriate-the ability to play back content in multiple formats on a single device. 除非有能力这么做, TI counters its own argument with a push toward real-time transcoding, 要么针对核心，要么针对消费者. Either way, TI is positioned to take advantage of both trends.

"Transcoding is a life-or-death issue facing manufacturers and service providers as they try to realize the explosive growth in video entertainment,吉恩·弗朗茨预测道, 透明国际首席研究员. "Consumers have an insatiable appetite for immersion in entertainment, and transcoding among multiple formats will be mandatory for all future video products to be successful. Digital signal processing technology will be an essential piece in laying the foundation for transcoding among multiple consumer devices."