An H.265/HEVC codec(encoder/decoder) for UHD(3840×2160) capturing and playback is presented. Implemented codec has 0.97 mm2 logic area in 20nm with 170KB internal memory. By exploiting sophisticated low-power design, 56/190 mW power consumption is achieved in UHD 30fps decoding/encoding. Maintaining UHD 30fps real-time encoding, the encoder allows about 1.0 dB quality drop compared to HM reference model. By introducing pixel cache for reference pixel read for motion estimation/compensation, the codec consumes 1.2 / 2.0 GB/s external memory bandwidth at UHD 30fps decoding/encoding.

72.5GFLOPS GPGPU computing, 240 Mpixel/s sustainable image signal processing and 60fps 1080p multi-format video codec (MFC) capabilities are integrated with an 1.7GHz out-of-order-execution dual-core ARMv7A architecture CPU and 12.8GB/s memory subsystem for a next-generation application processor. The GPU-based general-purpose computing capability can deliver 10× higher energy efficiency in compute-intensive multimedia applications, compared with a CPU solution on the same die. The improved energy efficiency with GPGPU computing enables next-generation fused multimedia applications, with the assistance of dedicated high-performance low-power multimedia accelerators, as well as with low-power design and process technology, as shown in Fig. 9.4.1.