STMicro STiH416 Dual Core Media Processor and Linux SDK

STMicro announced STiH416 SoC for media players at CES 2012 with very few details, but we’ve still known that it is a dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.2 GHz coupled with a quad core Mali-400 manufacturer and an hardware video decoder supporting commonly used codecs such as H.264, VC-1, AVS and MPEG2. Yesterday they put out a press release about a STB development platform based on this solution, and I found out we’ve got much more information now.

Key features include:

• ARM Cortex-A9, dual core CPU, SMP NEON SIMD engine yielding up to 6000 DMIPS
• ARM Mali-400 quad core GPU yielding up to 1600 Mpixels/s fill rate and supporting up to 1080p60 or 1080p30 stereoscopic 3D graphics
• Dual HD H.264/VC-1/AVS/MPEG2 video decoder or SVC video decode
• MVC video decode for 3DTV: supports up to 1080p60L/60R, 3D video formats
• Dual HD internet video decoding: real video 8/9/10, DivX, Xvid, MP4p2, Adobe Flash videos
• Single HD internet video decoding: WebM/VP8
• H.264 video encoder up to 1080p60 HD resolution with video preprocessing; deinterlacing, HQ resizing and TNR
• High-quality of image with Faroudja video
• ST proprietary multicompartmental security IP and DRM processor.
• Dual audio DSP: supports Dolby MS11.
• Interfaces – 4x USB 2.0, 2x eSATA, PCIe, 2x Ethernet (GbE capable), MMC / SDIO, SLC NAND, SPI serial NOR, and DDR3 memory interface.
• Video I/O – HDMI 1.4a, audio and TV out.
• Integrated low power processor: < 30 mW passive standby mode.

The media and connectivity capabilities of this SoC allows for multiple screens in the home controlled from one set-top box.

For development purpose, the company provides “STLinux Development Environment” includes the following:

• STLinux – Linux kernel, device drivers and a root file system populated with over 800 packages. STLinux is compatible with higher level driver sets such as STAPI and STKPI drivers for audio/video and SDK2/Android.
• STWorkbench –  Eclipse-based IDE providing support for building, downloading, debugging
  and managing STLinux systems, as well as SDK2 and Android applications. Available for Linux and Windows.
• GNU Development Tools –  C and C++ compilers, glibc and uclibc runtime libraries and both user and kernel space GDB debuggers.
• ST Micro Connect – Host-target interface products that support fast code download, robust JTAG debug and a serial relay interface. Two products are available:
  • STMC2 –  Multi-core debugging across an ARM or ST40 core running STLinux and companion cores.
  • STMCLite – Low cost USB to JTAG interface for STLinux application debug only.
• STM-Probe –  Tool to capture system trace diagnostics from the target. The captured data
  can be analyzed under STWorkbench to show CPU loading, thread synchronization and inter-core communications.
• OS21 RTOS Micro Toolsets –  ST Micro also provides a set of Micro Toolsets that allow users to develop and debug OS21-based RTOS applications on the companion ST40 and ST200 processor cores.

The STLinux kernel and associated packages, GNU development tools, STWorkbench and RTOS Micro Toolsets can be downloaded from STLinux.com. You’ll also find documentation, FAQs, on the site, and STMicro provides support via Bugzilla bug tracking system. Read the brochure for a longer overview of the development environment. I understand that the media libraries (e.g. STAPI) are not available publicly, so you’ll have to contact the company or a distributor, and buy a license in order to get those.

The company can also provide reference boards together with their Board Support Packages (BSPs), but I could not find details about those hardware platforms.

You may be able to find further information on ST STiH416 page.

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