Express Logic and Renesas Technology Team to Offer Audio-Video Media Player Reference Design

Media players form the basis for attractive consumer products such as digital picture frames that can display stored images and play recorded MP3 audio files. An example digital picture frame has been implemented and will be demonstrated at the Renesas DevCon in San Diego later this week.
The reference design is aimed at system developers, providing them with a starting point for their products that saves significant time and greatly assists in timely project completion and faster time to market.

“This reference design incorporates comprehensive support for USB storage devices, interactive graphics, and application program control under our ThreadX RTOS,” commented William E. Lamie, president of Express Logic. “Typical reference designs include only basic RTOS support, but this media player goes well beyond the basics to include a wealth of technology that saves developers the time normally required to integrate such capabilities.”

“The media player reference design will enable our customers to bring SuperH-based consumer products to market much faster than ever before,” noted Brian Davis, director of MPU group at Renesas Technology America, Inc. “With Express Logic’s help, we’ve been able to put together an integrated hardware-software platform that otherwise would require man-months of development time. Renesas is pleased to offer this reference design for developers looking for fast time to market and low manufacturing cost.”

All software components are available through royalty-free licenses, which means that none of the software adds to bill-of-material (BOM) cost. The Renesas SH-2A platform demonstrates the powerful processing performance available from the 200-MHz superscalar SH7263 microcontroller when coupled with real-time ThreadX RTOS. The device’s application code is designed to use its floating-point unit (FPU) and onchip RAM for audio processing, while displaying images from a USB hosted memory stick or SD memory card on a VGA TFT LCD using its onchip LCD controller. Peripheral drivers and a board support package are available as part of the reference design.

Renesas and Express Logic will unveil the media player reference design at this week’s DevCon 2008 at the Westin Gaslamp Quarter Hotel, San Diego, CA. A joint lab will be presented on Wednesday, October 15th at 8:30 A.M., and developers may participate in an introduction to the media player system with hands-on development exercises and lab notes.