• State TI Thinks Resolved
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 1 reply
  • Answers 1 answer
  • Subscribers 28 subscribers
  • Views 429 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Support feedback
Options
Options
Related

This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

DLPC900: Higher pattern-on-the-fly image transfer rates

Andrew McFarland
Prodigy 85 points
Part Number: DLPC900

I have an application where I need to sequentially display a stream of 400 1920X1080 1-bit images on a DLP6500 (with DLPC900) at a max frame rate of 20Hz and I want minimal latency/wait time for upload at the onset of streaming (using pattern-on-the-fly mode and loading images over USB).  The OS is Windows 10.

Using enhanced RLE compression I can upload 400 bitmaps in about 20 seconds--I need to get this number down to one or two seconds.  Each image is about 250 kb before compression, so we're getting about 5Mb/sec overall throughput.  So USB2 should maybe get us there with "real world" rates of ~20 MB/sec (~160 Mb/sec) including overhead.

I want to write the bytes over USB to the DLPC900 as opposed to using the HDMI/Displayport (which supports the frame rates I need) as this would dramatically reduce the overall design complexity (no 6535 chip or FPGA etc.) and eliminate the second monitor setup that is kind of clunky on Windows.

1. Is it possible for the DLPC900 to support USB2 speeds so I could upload all the images at "time = 0" in roughly one or two seconds?  My understanding is that the DLPC900 is an FGPA so it seems this should be possible via firmware alone?

2. If #1 is yes, does TI have any plans to support USB2 or is it possible to get the native firmware code to modify/test this out?

3. If #1 = no, is a ping-pong buffer possible with the DLPC900 over USB1.1?

4. Any other easier ways to do this that I am missing without using an FPGA (graphics controller IC, other)?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

  • 0
    TI__Guru 54320 points

    Hello Andrew,

    Here are the answers that we can give you at this time:

    1.  Is it possible for the DLPC900 to support USB2 speeds so I could upload all the images at "time = 0" in roughly one or two seconds?  My understanding is that the DLPC900 is an FGPA so it seems this should be possible via firmware alone?

    The USB is only  USB 1.1, not USB 2.0, This limits the bandwidth as you note.  We have considered better USB for future EVMs, but we are unable to make any commitment at this time.

    2.  If #1 is yes, does TI have any plans to support USB2 or is it possible to get the native firmware code to modify/test this out?

    This is based on an ASIC, while there is some firmware much of the functionality is baked in.  We do not make available the firmware code for these controllers.  As noted in #1 we cannot commit to supporting USB 2.0 at this time.

    3.  If #1 = no, is a ping-pong buffer possible with the DLPC900 over USB1.1?

    With the current EVM hardware, I do not think this is possible, but I don't see why an external ping pong buffer directly feeding the RGB input could not be constructed.  However as you note in #4 this would almost certainly involve an FPGA

    4.  Any other easier ways to do this that I am missing without using an FPGA (graphics controller IC, other)?

    I would have to think about this, but at the moment with the current EVM hardware I am not sure of a way to do this.  We are working on a release sometime (hopefully this year) of a firmware that will support larger memory spaces.

    I wonder if a small microprocessor or embedded processor system could be turned into a simple RGB stream buffer to feed the RGB input(s) I mean like a Beagle Bone, or Raspberry Pi or other.

    Fizix