Streaming multimedia codecs on embedded/programmable DSPs

By Danny Wilson and Ramon Trombetta, LSI Logic
April 10, 2006 - pldesignline.com

Introduction

Multimedia combines selected elements of text, audio, still images, video, and graphics together in a single media object. Streaming technology delivers those objects in real-time, while the media is being read, heard, or viewed. Before RealAudio provided the first commercially available streaming media products in 1995, most Internet media files were downloaded in their entirety before playback could begin. Today, there is no need to wait for a streaming audio clip to fully download before listening can begin. Playback begins while the content continues to stream.

Streamed data is transmitted by a server application and received and displayed in real-time by client applications. Clients can start rendering audio/video when their receive buffer contains enough information to avoid data dropouts. Dedicated multimedia servers are often used to facilitate web based streaming. Multimedia servers deliver data continuously, without large bursts or long dead periods, so that only a small amount of buffered data is needed at the client before playback begins.

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