Honored Contributor
Honored ContributorHi Justin,
--- Quote Start --- I am undertaking a project where I need to serialise 3 signals that each have a maximum capacity of 3.4Gb/s (Digital High Definition Video Signal). We are going to then output this signal with plans to then connect it too a optical driver chip and then a laser transceiver then at the receiver end deserialise the signal to then feel into a television/projector via a HDMI cable. I am new to FPGA's and am wondering if there were any restrictions on which Altera FPGA's would be capable of serialisation and outputs of those kinds of speeds? --- Quote End --- The devices to look at would be the Stratix IV GX FPGAs. They're in production. The Stratix V, Arria V, and Cyclone V devices are just starting to become available. Once you've got something working with a Stratix IV GX development kit, you can decide whether you need to go for something cheaper in your final design. The Altera Stratix IV GX development kit http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-siv-gx.html has HDMI and an SDI channel. The connectors along the top of the board breakout 8 transceiver lanes on the left connector and six on the right. These connectors are called HSMC and are defined by an Altera specification. There are development boards from multiple vendors that plug into these connectors. Perhaps you can find a video development kit. The Terasic Stratix IV GX kit is called the DE4; http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=138&no=501 Terasic might also sell HSMC video kits, have a look around their web site. Cheers, Dave
