This H.264 Application Platform System integrates multiple IP cores with memory and software on a system prototyping board to enable off-the-shelf execution and evaluation of high-definition video compression.

The H.264 encoder, and interface cores are implemented in an FPGA on a commercial board that has onboard RAM. The board connects to a Windows host PC via a PCI Express interface. Raw video is fed to the board through a virtual RAM drive, compressed, and passed back to the PC for storage and viewing.

The system can process up to 1080p video at 30 frames per second.

Custom software provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for easy setting of H.264 compression parameters. It also manages video streaming, driver access, hardware control, and multitasking.