Analysis: ZSP800 and VZ.AudioHD platform

Verisilicon, the company that purchased the ZSP line of DSP cores in 2006, just released its first new DSP core, the ZSP800. The ZSP800 is more evolutionary than revolutionary. It shares the same basic architecture as the ZSP540/560 cores, with various improvements such as new application-specific instructions and a higher clock rate of 450 MHz in a 65 nm process. (All clock speeds in this analysis assume worst-case conditions.)


The ZSP800.

The core mainly targets HD audio—specifically next gen HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players. To this end, Verisilicon has invested much of its development effort into growing the already impressive library of audio codecs it inherited with the ZSP cores. The company now offers all audio codecs (mandatory and optional) in the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray specifications—a feat no other vendor has yet to match. It also offers a comprehensive set of other common audio software modules such as sample rate converters, mixers, EQ effects, etc. The audio software suite is offered as part of the VZ.AudioHD platform, which also includes the ZSP800 core and a system software framework.

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