Introduction

The emergence of the high-definition (HD) 1080p video standard has presented some formidable design challenges for broadcast system engineers. While HD broadcasting now is established as the de facto standard for video broadcast around the world, new production equipment still must be able to handle the legacy of standard-definition (SD) and 1080i interfaces. This puts equipment manufacturers under pressure to build a cost-effective video interface solution that can handle multi-rate video. High-speed FPGA ICs, design tools, and off-the-shelf video IP cores help the designer create a wide variety of broadcast solutions, such as video switcher/routers, video servers, and video encoders, in time for market demand.