Texas Instruments Programmable DSPs Enable New Panasonic Digital Hard-Disk Recorder for Small and Medium Enterprises - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, May 29, 2000

MCI/Panasonic (NYSE: MC), one of the world's leading security equipment providers, Thursday announced a new digital hard-disk recorder product powered by programmable digital signal processors from Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE: TXN; TI), the world leader in DSP and analog. By bringing the advanced imaging capabilities of DSPs to the security and surveillance market, TI is enabling Panasonic to provide small to medium-sized security customers three times the image storage capacity over traditional 120-minute VHS tapes. Users also will have the ability to record digital video images only when unusual motion is detected.

Based on TI's high-performance TMS320C6000 DSPs, Panasonic's new WJ-HD100 digital recorder offers added advanced digital image analysis, compression, storage and retrieval features. These capabilities bring Panasonic increased effective recording time and storage, better image quality and resolution, improved reliability and operational efficiency compared to traditional analog VHS tape based time-lapse recorders. TI's digital recorder and network camera solutions are also the only single-processor, DSP-based solutions available today that are flexible and powerful enough to support all common digital image and video compression formats, including Motion JPEG (MJPEG), H.263, MPEG4, JPEG2000, and compressed digital audio formats such as G.711, G.723 and G.726. The flexibility to support these multiple standards is based on the programmability of TI DSP.

The WJ-HD100 was implemented using TI's programmable-DSP based Digital Recorder Engine (DRE) solution, which was optimized for Panasonic's digital hard-disk recorder product. "TI's Digital Recorder Engine solution assisted Panasonic in developing a cost-effective, reliable and competitive digital recorder product, and provided design flexibility for performance upgrades that are fully compatible to existing software," said Mr. Takayoshi Hasegawa, General Manager, Audio-Video Systems Division, MCI/Panasonic. "Thanks to TI's image compression and intelligent imaging capabilities, Panasonic customers will enjoy a range of new features and functions in new digital security camera and recorders that can best be implemented cost-effectively with TI's high-performance, programmable DSPs."

The WJ-HD100, expected to be available in the late third quarter of this year, will provide 24 hours of continuous time-lapse operation with actual total recording time determined by the particular recording (frame rate) and stored image quality options selected by the user. The WJ-HD100 features video motion detection (VMD), the ability to set an alarm and record only when motion is detected in the visual field. Users will also be able to quickly and randomly search and retrieve data from a digital hard-disk drive (HDD) based on time, date, or an alarm-marked event. This is a significant improvement in capabilities over traditional tape-based time-lapse recorders where users are required to search through a library of multiple tapes, or the image quality of a captured event is poor because the tape has been erased and re-recorded numerous times. The WJ-HD100 currently supports the JPEG digital image format, but can be easily re-programmed to support other digital image or video compression formats.

"Panasonic is a world leading manufacturer of security end-equipment and systems and a recognized innovator in bringing digital technology to the security market," said Dr. Vincent McNeil, Worldwide Network Camera Business Manager, Texas Instruments. "TI's programmable DSP and image analysis expertise, and Panasonic's experience and knowledge of security end-equipments and applications, will bring new levels of system performance, value and adaptability that will deliver greater safety and security to the end customer."

In addition to the features implemented in the DRE developed for Panasonic, TI's Network Camera solution currently offers a wide array of features and functionality, including TCP/IP networking over Ethernet, people and object tracking, programmable event recognition, and an HTTP server that allows a digital recorder or a network camera to be accessed over the Internet using standard web browser software.

According to security market research organization J.P. Freeman Co., Inc., the worldwide market for video cameras, digital recorders, and networked digital video servers now stands at $1,092 million at factory prices and is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25% per year. J.P. Freeman Co., Inc.'s outlook for the next 5 years shows that the trends for this segment are very likely to continue at this unabated rate of growth.

"The emergence of networked digital video in the security industry is an accelerating growth trend as a widening array of video applications are created by different user groups," said Joe Freeman, Sc.D., President and CEO of J.P. Freeman Co., Inc. "Moreover, with the growth of broadband connectivity to the home, it is quite possible to see explosive growth in the residential market place as innovations steadily merge security electronics into home control networks. Because of its leadership in programmable DSP and imaging expertise, TI is well positioned to capitalize on and even drive this trend forward into the future."