Often times lost amid the chatter and excitement in the digicam market is coverage on the sensors that really power them. Among the many interesting pieces of news in the digital camera market lately is the work coming out of Texas Instruments on the chip front. Late last year they brought the DaVinci processor to market with the promise of injecting some much needed life into the lower-end market. The TI offering included an entire reference design kit for the manufacture of “feature-rich” digital cameras in the $99-$199 price range. Both Kodak and GE/General Imaging had cameras at PMA based on this DaVinci reference kit.
Not satisfied with this salvo on the low-end market, TI demo’d what they labeled DaVinciP2 technology at PMA they claim will allow manufacturers to bring DSLR feature sets to point-and-shoot digital cameras.
The company told us that they have, “leveraged their DSC silicon and expertise to offer a production-ready software reference design, based on DaVinciP2 technology.” TI says that this breakthrough will allow digital camera manufacturers to use the reference design to bring the type of burst capture performance, among other higher end features, normally found in DSLR cameras to low-cost, point-and-shoot digital cameras. They also demonstrated that the technology can also enable high-definition (HD) video on digital cameras priced as low as $99. The video demo we eyed in the suite at PMA was most impressive as the video quality was far superior to anything we’ve seen from a DSC on the market today.
Details on the technology include what we are told is a highly flexible processor, software with enhanced post-processing algorithms and development framework. The new reference design includes production-ready software for a completely functional digital camera, complete with scene modes, color settings and various advanced features such a face detection, anti-shake and, perhaps most impressively, superior performance in low light shooting conditions. Once again, the results presented at PMA with regard to low-light shooting capability were dazzling. TI told us that cameras offering an ISO of 10000 will be made possible with their reference design. The entire package also includes a suite of development tools, software and technical support.
TI also stated that this latest version of the DaVinci processor, while optimized for the digital camera market, may also be beneficial for other digital imaging consumer electronics devices such as camcorders, digital photo frames, solid state digital video recorders, photo printers and video surveillance systems among others.
