Texas Instruments, the third largest semiconductor company, is confident its new video technology, dubbed DaVinci, will carve a lucrative future in the video chip market, but can it live up to the illustrious career of its namesake?

Many would say that by naming their all-in-one video chip technology after arguably the greatest Renaissance artist and inventor, TI may be leaving itself open to some serious backlash. But the giant is confident that their DaVinci chip will live up to its name and provide the same success in digital video they have experienced in the mobile phone market. TI now supplies around 60 per cent of the chips found in mobile phones.

DaVinci allows digital video designers to choose a signal processor tailored for their needs and then select from a menu of production ready software.  TI is confident their DSP solution will open up a whole new generation of digital video products.

DaVinci is based on the TMS320C6000, TI’s newest C64x+ DSP core. The DaVinci processors consist of DSP-based system-on-chip, integrating DSP and ARM cores (what ARM core – and we are now using processor instead of core in all literature), accelerators, peripherals and necessary software, TI has confirmed.

It is important to note that DaVinci will not rely solely on the programmable DSP core. Instead, it will incorporate hardware acceleration of computing-intensive functions when performance or power requirements dictate it and the stability of the underlying algorithms permitting. By opting for this path, TI said that DaVinci will be able to spread its capabilities across the board, from mini digital cameras right through to broadcast encoders. 

TI isn’t the first to note that digital video product innovation has become hobbled by short battery life, long development schedules and high prices. The consumers are there, but the technology to satisfy their appetites more often than not isn’t on the shelves.  TI believes that DaVinci based on ARM processor technology will make it far easier for electronics makers to design and manufacture  video products including digital cameras, video phones and portable media players.
By providing manufacturers with an integrated set of chips, software and development tools, TI is confident it can drive down production costs while ensuring that devices are compatible. TI believes DaVinci could cut development time from around 24 months to under a year. Industry watchers, however, maintain this may be easier said than done as the digital video market is much more fragmented than anything TI has come up against in the mobile phone arena.

TI’s decision to go down the so called ‘platform route’ is no surprise to industry watchers.  Its announcement comes hot on the heels of Intel, which has recently unveiled its digital home electronics platform, dubbed Viiv.  Intel claims that Viiv will make it easier to share content over home networks and make PCs compatible with other digital devices.  At the same time Philips Semiconductors is promoting its Nexperia and STMicroelectronics has also put its ST40 32-bit RISC architecture under the digital video system spotlight.

Although DaVinci aim is to pave the way for new product,  it also will be an exercise in brand and platform awareness. Make no mistake, when consumers go shopping there aren’t many gadgets they’ll look at that don’t have digital imaging.  TI wants to make sure the ones they take home have the DaVinci name firmly branded on them.

For example, TI said that Instead of multiple systems, one TV set-top box will allow consumers to play and/or record, as well as video conference with friends simultaneously. Taking this technology one step further, consumers with a video security system will be able to identify a visitor at the front door, unlock it and open it via their TV remote.

Consumers won’t have long to wiat before they can stamp their own seal of approval on DaVinci. TI expects to announce DaVinci-based processor samples, software and development tools by year-end 2005. DaVinci-enabled solutions are in the pipeline for products such as digital cameras, automotive infotainment products, portable media players, set-top boxes and video security systems.

TI’s next big job is to attract a big name customer to make DaVinci the technology of choice in the digital video market, in the same way Nokia took up its OMAP platform in mobile phones. Samsung, Microsoft and Eastman Kodak are likely to be the first takers.

The door of opportunity in video is open in the same way it was in wireless and TI has been fast to make sure it has its foot in the. The proof will be in seeing if TI can prove a serious Renaissance for the plethora of digital products on the market today and really pull off what it calls ‘the DaVinci effect’.