Orion brings JPEG2000 real-time video compression and decompression to PMC and PCI form-factors with a dual-channel capability for TV resolution video sources. In input mode, Orion can accept up to ten analogue video inputs and select two for simultaneous compression with the JPEG2000 standard. The compression engine supports full frame rate encoding of standard 625 line PAL or 525 line NTSC composite video, outputting a JPEG2000 compliant data stream onto the PCI bus.
In output mode, the card receives up to two JPEG2000 data stream across the PCI bus, decompressing to give two independent PAL or NTSC video output signals through the front panel.
Supporting both lossless and lossy modes with a programmable compression ratio, JPEG2000 offers excellent performance for real-time video sequences, giving high compression ratios with the added benefit of low latency and minimal resynchronise times. Unlike MPEG-based compression which uses a sequence of frames to identify temporal redundancy, JPEG2000 compresses each frame separately and independently. In the event of a disturbance to the video stream, resynchronisation can occur on the next frame boundary.
