Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium – September 7th 2017 – Barco Silex, leading provider of video compression technology and OEM solutions in the broadcast and pro A/V market, has announced an upgraded version of its VC-2 HQ codec for high quality broadcast applications. This new version of our implementation of the codec is completely in-line with the recent update of VC-2 HQ open standard (SMPTE ST 2042-1:2017).

The VC-2 HQ codec is a high quality codec for professional applications. Its primary use is the light compression of high pixel rate video (4K, 8K) content to lower bandwidth in order to ease the real-time transport over networked IP infrastructure. The VC-2 HQ compression is essentially visually lossless, and does not add any noticeable latency to the system which is important for applications such as broadcast contribution.

Our new implementation of the VC-2 standard is compliant with the latest version of the SMPTE standard. The latest revision (SMPTE ST 2042-1:2017), released in June 2017, introduced the option of using asymmetrical wavelet transform for the VC-2 processing, instead of the usual symmetrical wavelet. Asymmetrical wavelets allow a better trade-off between the complexity of the codec and its efficiency. The new standard has also been updated to support latest and future video formats.

In order to provide our customers with a state of the art lightweight codec for ASIC and FPGA, we decided to upgrade our VC-2 HQ IP cores to support the asymmetrical wavelet filtering according to the standard. Our implementation uses the LeGall filter with 5 horizontal levels and 1 vertical level, guaranteeing a compression without artefacts with very low FPGA/ASIC area.

In the broadcast industry, it is important to develop systems around open standards in order to reach interoperability between the different vendors. The new version of the VC-2 standard enables manufacturers of video over IP equipment’s to benefit from the latest coding techniques. Barco Silex will demonstrate its VC-2 HQ codec at IBC show in Amsterdam, booth 10.D31.

About Barco Silex

Barco Silex is the leading provider of high-end image video and security technology. Barco Silex develops OEM solutions for audio/video compression and transport applications. Barco Silex also licenses a wide range of video compression technology, in the form of IP blocks for ASIC or FPGA. This technology has been adopted by leading companies in the broadcast, professional AV and defense market. Barco Silex also specializes in embedded security. Combined with video transport, this ensures secure video transmission and content protection solutions. Barco Silex is a subsidiary of Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR), the global leader in networked visualization products for the entertainment, enterprise and healthcare markets.

About Barco

Barco designs technology to enable bright outcomes around the world. Seeing beyond the image, we develop sight, sound, and sharing solutions to help you work together, share insights, and wow audiences. Our focus is on three core markets: Enterprise (from meeting and control rooms to corporate spaces), Healthcare (from the radiology department to the operating room), and Entertainment (from movie theaters to live events and attractions). In 2016, we realized sales of 1.102 billion euro. We have a team of 3,500 employees, located in 90 countries, whose passion for technology is captured in 400 granted patents.

For more information, visit us on  www.barco.com