4K video processor solves power vs. resolution dilemma

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

OmniVision Technologies unveils the OA805 video processor that supports high-efficiency video coding (HEVC) compression for battery-powered security and surveillance applications. Claiming the lowest power consumption in the industry, the OA805 is extremely power-efficient, which makes HEVC possible for battery-powered security cameras and video doorbells for the first time, according to the company.

The OA805 is an upgrade to OmniVision’s OV798, adding HEVC capability and higher resolution processing while consuming less power and booting up faster. The video processor accepts up to 16-megapixel captures from an image sensor and outputs up to 4K resolution video at 30 frames per second (fps) using HEVC encoding and decoding. It also supports multiple video streams at lower resolution, including H.264 1080p resolution at 60 fps, as well as HDR and RGB-IR.

The HEVC (also known as H.265) advanced video compression standard for IoT-enabled home security devices reduces storage requirements and enables the streaming of 4K videos over wireless connections. OmniVision said the tradeoff here is that the compression routine is computationally intensive and can consume more power.

However, the OA805 solves the challenge thanks to its power efficiency. The OA805 claims a fast boot-up time that eliminates any delay between motion detection and video recording, potentially allowing the camera to instantly alert users of suspicious activities. Within 0.1 seconds (100 ms), the OA805 can go from completely powered off to fully functional, enabling the OA805 to boot up only at the moment when motion is detected in the security camera’s field of view, which eliminates the need for a standby or sleep mode.

“Because the processor consumes no power when it is off, the overall power consumption of the security camera is extremely low and allows the camera to have up to two years of battery life,” said the company.

The OA805 system-on-chip (SoC) features dual embedded Arm Cortex-A5 CPU cores with Neon technology for accelerated audio and video encoding/decoding, along with image processing, video encoding hardware, and RGB/IR processing. The high dynamic range (HDR) processing capability allows the OA805 to accept input from RBG/IR image sensors and support high-quality displays for videos taken during the day or at night in conditions with widely contrasting bright and dark images.

The OA805 video processor is available now, and if you want to see it in action, OmniVision will be demonstrating the video processor at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).