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Dazzle Multimedia Uses Spartan FPGA to Create Movie Quality Video on the PC
 designs, manufactures,
and markets innovative and affordable MPEG digital video products for business
and personal computer users. The Dazzle Digital Video Creator provides
everything the PC user needs to record, edit, manage, and publish video.
Dazzle Multimedia, founded in 1996, turned to the Xilinx Spartan family
of FPGAs when designing its groundbreaking product.
"We looked very carefully at several different options, and Xilinx simply made the most sense in terms of gates, memory, reliability and price," said Sajid Sohail, Founder, and CEO for Dazzle Multimedia. "The Spartan FPGA was the optimum device for our design and made the process very easy for us. The design required several memory blocks that we implemented as a FIFO; the embedded RAM blocks within the Xilinx device were much more efficient than any other product on the market." Derived from the industry standard Xilinx XC4000 architecture, the 3.3-volt SpartanXL FPGA family combines unparalleled performance with low prices to provide the highest price performance ratio available in the industry. Fabricated on a leading edge silicon process, the SpartanXL family provides a full feature set including on-chip dual-port RAM, aggressive power management and densities ranging from 5,000 to 40,000 system gates and small form factor packaging. The SpartanXL family is the first FPGA family that meets all the key requirements of ASIC designs for high volume production, and delivers unmatched benefits over competing PLDs. "This product has been so well accepted by consumers, we can't seem to build them fast enough," said Sohail. "It is the first product of its kind at an affordable price." The Digital Video Creator is currently shipping at a high volume rate and retails for $249. Dazzle chose to continue to utilize the Spartan FPGA throughout production. "There is certainly the advantage of quick time to market combined with the flexibility to modify our design. We found a bug in our software within the first six months of shipment - instead of a crisis, this was an easy fix. We simply fixed the problem and sent out our new software to everyone. This was a great win for us and for the FPGA." Dazzle used Verilog to code, Exemplar to synthesize and Xilinx Foundation software to place and route. "The Foundation Series software provided a ready-to-use solution combined with a powerful interface," said Sohail. This fully integrated design environment allows the user to access a complete set of design entry tools. Foundation Series software automates the creation of schematic and HDL symbols for inclusion within a design, making it easy to design complex circuits in minutes. Dazzle recently announced USB versions of its already successful product line. "We are excited to be the first company to ship USB products in the digital video market," said Sohail. "The USB versions offer consumers added features, such as higher connection speed and simple installation, making digital video easier to use than ever." Also new to the product line is the Dazzle Digital Video Creator Internet Edition, adding Internet specific capabilities to the original version. The Internet Edition (MSRP $299) supports the Internet-standard streaming video and audio formats from RealNetworks, allowing users to create and play back files in the Real Systems G2 format. The Internet Edition also allows users to automatically create web pages that include MPEG or Real format files, then upload those pages directly to their ISP or hosting service. Dazzle Multimedia expects to continue its strong presence in the retail channel by introducing an array of new products later this year. The company also plans to make its exclusive software available to the PC OEM market for the first time and focus on expanding its international presence. Dazzle plans to fortify its lead in the desktop-digital-video product category and extend into new areas including MPEG2 desktop video and exciting applications with MP3 audio. |
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