DTV manufacturers can now reap the benefits of the VESA DSC v1.2

As consumer demand for ultra high-definition display products grows, designers need to find a solution for developing displays that support increased video throughput. To meet these needs, the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) released the VESA Display Stream Compression standard in 2014. “The VESA Display Stream Compression standard is already widely adopted in mobile embedded applications. With the new capabilities introduced in the latest DSC version 1.2, the benefits of high-quality image compression can be realised in a variety of new applications and products, such as PC monitors and digital television.” states Bill Lempesis, Executive Director, VESA.

VESA DSC uses real-time, visually lossless image compression to increase the amount of data carried on existing video transport interfaces such as MIPI DSI and VESA DisplayPort. The recently-released DSC v1.2 expands upon the capabilities of DSC v1.1 and is backward compatible with DSC v1.1. By supporting 14- and 16-bit color bit depth, as well as adding native coding for 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 in the YCbCr color space, this latest version of the standard will assist DTV manufacturers with developing HDR-compatible 8K televisions at high frame rates, along with other associated digital TV products such as STBs and DVRs. The expanded feature set of DSC v1.2 will also enable DSC to be used on DisplayPort v1.4 and other future video transport interfaces.

Hardent’s VESA DSC IP products facilitate DSC adoption and faster time-to-market. “We are delighted to expand our DSC IP product portfolio to support DSC v1.2,” explains Alain Legault, VP IP Products, Hardent. “While DSC v1.1 still remains the compression standard of choice for mobile, tablet, automotive, and video transport applications, our IP cores for DSC v1.2 will enable DTV manufacturers to quickly develop ultra high-definition displays with significantly lower risk.”

“Like with all VESA standards, enhancements to the DSC standard are made possible by the collective efforts of VESA’s members. We applaud the accomplishments of member companies like Hardent that are developing the technologies and infrastructure critical to accelerating DSC’s adoption.” adds Lempesis. Hardent has been an active member of VESA’s DSC Task Group since 2013.