High-definition video scaler ASIC development from FPGA

By Wolfgang Hoeflich, Senior Field Applications Engineer, AMI Semiconductor
videsignline.com, September 29, 2006

How a high-definition video scaler ASIC was quickly created using a flexible FPGA-to-ASIC conversion flow. This ensured reproduction of the FPGA functionality and enabled first time fully functional silicon supporting video resolutions up to 1080p.

Consumers are buying ever larger numbers of liquid crystal displays (LCD), plasma and digital light processing (DLP) based systems. As digital displays continue to offer higher resolution capabilities, high quality video scaling is becoming a key feature for the new generation of high definition video sources.

This article details the implementation and verification flows of a high-definition video scaler ASIC implemented in a 0.18um standard cell technology. The Anchor Bay Technology application targets the consumer market space for high-definition video sources (for example, HD-DVD and Blu-ray players). Achieving quick time-to-market was critical for the success of the project, in addition to beating competitive products in cost, features and ease-of-use. An FPGA prototype was used for at-speed verification of all functionality, especially image quality enhancements.

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