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Posts Tagged ‘Ambarella’

Ambarella announces 8K-ready H3 SoC for drones and video cameras

08 Jan

Image processor maker Ambarella has released the H3 System-on-Chip (SoC) for high-end drones and video cameras, including those capturing 360-degree and virtual reality footage. The H3 supports 8K Ultra HD H.264/AVC video at 30 frames per second or multiple video streams with equivalent performance, for example 360-degree cameras that use dual 4K/60fps sensors. 

“With the introduction of H3 we believe we provide the highest video performance and best image quality solution for high-end drones and multi-sensor video cameras,” said Fermi Wang, president and CEO of Ambarella. “H3 delivers 8Kp30 video performance to match the next generation of displays, such as 8K televisions and high resolution head-mounted displays.”

The chip comes with a multi-channel ISP for 360-degree video capture and multi-sensor drone applications. 10-bit HDR processing should help deal with high-contrast scenes and Ambarella’s electronic image stabilization should keep things steady, even in difficult conditions, such as high winds or when panning quickly. The chipset is powered by a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU and an integrated hardware de-warping engine supports wide-angle panoramic camera designs and fish-eye lenses. Ambarella has not provided any information as to when the H3 is likely to make its appearance in consumer products, but it’s good to see that in the near future there should be a range of capture devices capable of recording content for the latest 8K displays. 

Press Release:

Ambarella Introduces 8K Ultra HD SoCs for Virtual Reality and Drone Cameras

Ambarella H3 SoC delivers 8K Ultra HD at 30 frames per second and 4K Ultra HD at 120 frames per second

SANTA CLARA, Calif., January 5, 2017 — Ambarella, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA), a leading developer of low-power, HD and Ultra HD video processing semiconductors, today introduced the H3 System-on-Chip (SoC) for high-end drones and a new generation of video cameras, including 360-degree and virtual reality cameras. The H3 video SoC enables 8K Ultra HD H.264/AVC video at 30 frames per second, as well as multiple video streams with equivalent performance, including 360-degree cameras with dual 4KP60 sensor video capture.

8K videos played on large 8K displays provide a better viewing experience to the end user, as pixels at this resolution are indistinguishable to the human eye at any reasonable distance. The combination of 8K video capture together with Ambarella’s advanced oversampling and image stabilization also enables higher video quality 4K video recording.

“With the introduction of H3 we believe we provide the highest video performance and best image quality solution for high-end drones and multi-sensor video cameras,” said Fermi Wang, president and CEO of Ambarella. “H3 delivers 8Kp30 video performance to match the next generation of displays, such as 8K televisions and high resolution head-mounted displays.”

H3 includes a powerful multi-channel ISP for 360 degree video capture and multi-sensor drone applications. Its 10-bit HEVC High Dynamic Range (HDR) video processing handles high contrast and wide color range scenes. It also features Ambarella’s advanced Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), capable of generating a smooth 4Kp60 video output under challenging conditions, including during high winds and with high degrees of rotation. The integration of a quad-core ARM® Cortex®-A53 CPU with floating point and NEON™ provides significant processing power for customer applications including computer vision, wireless networking, and multi-sensor stitching algorithms. The H3’s hardware de-warping engine supports wide-angle panoramic camera designs and fish-eye lenses.

Ambarella will demonstrate the new H3 SoC at a private, invitation-only event held during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 5 – 8, 2017.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Eyes on the Skies: Ambarella brings fast 4K to drones with H2 and H12 processors

07 Jan

Processor maker Ambarella has announced its two newest and most powerful chips. The H2 and H12 are 4K (UHD) capable processors, with the more powerful H2 able to compress 10-bit 4K/60p video using H.265 HEVC compression or 4K/120p with the less efficient H.264 AVC system. The company says it’s the drone market that’s now pushing the capabilities it needs to offer – way beyond what compact cameras tend to need.

With the drone market in mind, the H2 also includes a 1.2Ghz quad core processor that allows it to handle the data required to keep a drone in the air. It can also output a low-delay Full HD video stream at the same time as compressing a 4K stream, allowing a near-immediate high res view to be sent to a remote operator.

What we found interesting is not just that applications such as drones are so demanding (that makes sense), but that the expectations of the drone and sports camera markets are so far beyond what is being offered in the still camera market. One big difference between the two markets is that, with the continued decline of small-sensor compacts, most of the sensors used in stills photography are much larger than those used in action cams or drones, which makes heat management and data readout more challenging. Even with this difference, it’s interesting to know that 60p and 120p 4K processing is already ready for consumer devices.

Ambarella vice president of marketing and business development Chris Day says that sales of processors for drone/flying cameras now makes up 10% of the company’s revenues, highlighting how fast-moving the sector is. ‘These things need Ultra HD video, high frame rates, great imaging, electronic stabilization and lots of CPU power. And, of course, this all needs to be with low power consumption: it’s pretty demanding but it’s a great fit for us.’ he says. Asked about the impact these technologies are likely to have on the conventional stills camera market, he points out the narrowing of boundaries between sectors: ‘companies such as DJI are starting to make their own cameras, rather than mounting conventional Sony or Micro Four Thirds cameras on there.’

With fast, high quality, high bit-depth video likely to become more common on action cameras and flying cameras, it’ll be interesting to see how many of these capabilities start to appear on more conventional cameras in the coming months and years.

Press Release:

Ambarella Introduces Low Power 4K Ultra HD SoCs for Sports and Flying Cameras

Ambarella H2 delivers 4K Ultra HD at 60 frames per second with under 2 Watts of power consumption

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(UNDER EMBARGO – until Jan. 6, 2016 at 8:00 AM Eastern)–Ambarella, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA), a leading developer of low-power, HD and Ultra HD video processing semiconductors, today introduced the H2 and H12 camera System-on-Chips (SoCs) for a new generation of sports and flying cameras. H2 targets high-end camera models with 4K Ultra HD H.265/HEVC video at 60 frames per second and 4K AVC video at 120 frames per second. These high frame rates deliver smooth video during fast action shots and slow motion playback. H2 also includes 10-bit High Dynamic Range (HDR) video processing to handle high contrast scenes and supports DSLR quality photography. H12 targets mainstream cameras and offers 4K Ultra HD HEVC video at 30 frames per second. Both SoCs have extremely low power consumption allowing for the design of small form factor cameras, and feature advanced 3D electronic image stabilization, potentially eliminating the need for mechanical gimbals.

“With the introduction of H2 and H12 we now provide a complete portfolio of 4K Ultra HD HEVC solutions for sports and flying cameras,” said Fermi Wang, President and CEO of Ambarella. “H2, our first 14nm chip, delivers 4Kp60 Ultra HD HEVC video with 10-bit HDR processing, as supported by the latest generation of 4K HDR televisions. H12 delivers 4Kp30 Ultra HD HEVC video for outstanding video quality at mainstream camera price points.”

H2 features a new generation image processing pipeline which includes 10-bit HDR video processing and excellent imaging, even in challenging low-light conditions. The integration of a 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM® Cortex®-A53 CPU with floating point and NEONTM provides significant processing power for customer applications including flying camera flight control, video analytics and wireless networking. Its hardware de-warp engine supports wide-angle panoramic camera designs, while USB 3.0 connectivity provides fast upload of high resolution video. H2 supports live streaming of a second, low-delay, Full HD video stream for wireless monitoring and camera control.

H12 supports both 4Kp30 Ultra HD HEVC and AVC video encoding. It integrates a 1GHz single-core ARM® Cortex®-A9 CPU with floating point and NEONTM to provide the processing power required for customer applications including flying camera flight control and wireless networking. Its de-warp capability allows the use of wide-angle lenses with minimal image distortion. H12 also supports the live video streaming of a second, low-delay Full HD video stream.

Ambarella will demonstrate both H2 and H12 at a private event during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January 6 – 9, 2016.

Pricing and Availability

For pricing and availability please contact Ambarella at www.ambarella.com/about/contact/inquiries
The URL for this news release is: www.ambarella.com/about/news-events.html
The URL for the related image is: www.ambarella.com/about/news-events/press-images/H2-H12-press-images.html

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Ambarella launches A7L low-power, 1080p-capable stills/HD processor

26 Sep

Image processor maker Ambarella has announced the A7L stills and HD video chip is available. The latest processor is designed for use with the fast-readout CMOS sensors now appearing in cameras and can capture 1080p60 video or up to 30 16MP images per second. It features multi-frame High ISO capture/combination and on-chip HDR processing. It can also conduct real-time lens distortion correction for use with compact wide-angle lenses. It is the company’s first processor to be built on 32nm-scale technology and offers 40% lower power consumption than its current A7 processor.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Ambarella release iOne image processing chip for hybrid cameras

16 Dec

Image processor manufacturer, Amabarella has announced the iOne Android-based camera System-on-Chip (SoC). The iOne combines the company’s image and video processing experience with Android’s data communication capabilities, offering camera makers the ability to make more easily connected devices. The three-core processor is capable of simultaneous encoding of both a 1080p30 HD video stream and either still photos or a smaller video stream for fast broadcast via methods such as WiFi. The chip can also decode most popular video formats for streaming and replaying HD content amongst other features that could add significant functionality to future devices.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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