Chips&Media WAVE-P: APV Codec IP for 8K Pro Imaging

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Professional video workflows need a careful balance. You want professional-quality video. You also need fast editing, high throughput, and affordable silicon.

Chips&Media’s WAVE-P addresses this. It is a dedicated hardware IP core for the Advanced Professional Video (APV) codec. It targets prosumer and professional imaging systems. It brings APV encode and decode to a small, low-power block. It fits cameras, mobile devices, production gear, and media SoCs.

What Makes the APV Codec Stand Out for Professional Use?

APV is an intra-frame codec. Each frame is coded independently. It does not reference earlier or later frames.

That matters for editing. Editors can jump to any frame and cut it right away. They can decode and re-encode single frames. They do not need to rebuild long GOP structures.

APV aims for perceptually lossless quality. It supports chroma formats from 4:2:2 to 4:4:4. It supports 10- to 16-bit depth. It also supports HDR10 and HDR10+. It includes extensible metadata, multiview, and auxiliary planes such as depth and alpha.

In testing, APV performs well. It shows a 19.3% average BD-rate improvement versus common professional codecs. This result is for 2K and 4K 4:2:2 sequences.

WAVE-P Core Feature Set

WAVE-P implements APV in hardware. It supports both encoding and decoding.

One core can handle 8K at 30 fps at 500 MHz. This figure applies to the 4:4:4 12-bit profile.

The design supports key APV profiles. It covers 4:0:0, 4:2:2, and 4:4:4 at 10-bit. It also covers 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 at 12-bit.

It supports OpenAPV CBR and CFR modes. It accepts sizes up to 64K × 64K. It also includes color-space conversion and cropping.

WAVE-P Architecture and Design Benefits

Scalable, Low-Overhead Pipeline

WAVE-P integrates many blocks. These include control logic, transform and quantization, VLC encode/decode, bitstream buffering, DMA, and pre/post-processing.

It scales to multi-core designs. It uses tiles for parallel processing. This helps with high-resolution workloads. It also improves throughput without a full redesign.

Simplified Integration and Future-Proofing

WAVE-P reduces host CPU involvement. That cuts software overhead. It also frees the CPU for apps, UI, or AI workloads.

It supports flexible pixel layouts. These include YUV, RGB, and ARGB. This makes integration easier with sensors, displays, graphics, and memory subsystems.

Future profiles are planned. Additional bit depths are expected. This can extend SoC lifetimes and reduce redesign risk.

WAVE-P Performance Metrics

WAVE-P shows strong simulated performance at 500 MHz. Encode throughput reaches about 1.07 Gpixel/s for one 4:4:4 sample format. Decode throughput reaches about 1.05 Gpixel/s.

For 7680 × 4320 (8K), it reaches about 32 fps. This applies to both 4:4:4 encode and decode. It meets typical 8K30 requirements.

Power is also low in estimates. Encoding is about 14.7 mW on 7 nm. Decoding is about 14.6 mW.

Area is modest for a full configuration. The estimate is 657k logic gates and 12.93 KB of memory. That is about 887k gates equivalent.

Why This Matters for the Video Industry

Professional video is moving into smaller devices. Many are battery-powered. At the same time, requirements keep rising. Resolution, frame rate, color fidelity, and metadata all increase.

Software-only pipelines struggle at these levels. A dedicated codec engine can help. WAVE-P offers predictable real-time performance. It also lowers energy per frame. It reduces pressure on memory and CPUs.

Final Verdict

WAVE-P is more than a faster codec block. It enables 8K capture and post-production across more devices. It targets smartphones, cameras, broadcast gear, immersive media, and cloud-edge tools.

It combines APV’s editing-friendly compression with professional video hardware acceleration. That combination can make high-end workflows more accessible.

Contact Chips&Media

For details on WAVE-P and other video IP, contact Chips&Media’s sales team.