Background

Introduction

For designers of infotainment systems, several trends are causing a re-evaluation of how to distribute video from a source to a sink within the automobile. The most important trend is the increasing sophistication of the consuming public. Customers are expecting levels of performance and convenience similar to what they have become accustomed to with entertainment systems found in the home. With the heavy worldwide promotion of HDTV during the past two years, the public is becoming much more sensitive to video picture quality and more knowledgeable about issues relating to content protection. For example, consumers are coming to understand that an all digital video interface supporting content protection, such as HDMI, is a necessary feature for home video electronics. Another important trend is the increasing demand for infotainment system displays that are capable of supporting multiple functions sequentially and sometimes simultaneously: navigation data display, TV/motion picture display, rear camera viewing, touch screen controls, etc. Some of these use cases will require that the video streams must be mixed together, while at the same time maintaining a high quality user experience at a competitive price. This can be a problem when mixing analog and digital video streams.

In addition to increasing consumer expectations and technical requirements, the market unit and sales volume for systems requiring video data distribution is experiencing strong growth. According to Telematics Research Group, shipments of navigation, entertainment and driver information systems are expected to grow from a combined 16.5 million units in 2004 to a combined 47.2 million units in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate of 23%. Thus, the market for both OEM and aftermarket sales of infotainment systems likely to include video sources and sinks is already significant and will become more significant in the future.