Programmable Devices
CPLDs, FPGAs, SoC FPGAs, Configuration, and Transceivers
20638 Discussions

Is it possible to use PCIe for image transfer instead of display port?

Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
1,001 Views

I'm currently looking at the sample code a10_dp_vip_pro project from the link (https://cloud.altera.com/devstore/platform/1986/). As far as I figured out, this sample code uses on-board display port to read and write the image(or video). I was wondering if I could change the code so the images are transferred between host CPU instead of display port via PCI connection. So the goal is to use videos instead of cam. This is because I'm using fpga board which is installed on the server with no cameras nor displays...

0 Kudos
3 Replies
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
269 Views

In theory you probably could, but could the CPU handle the transfer rate? probably not. 4kp60 video is 12 Gbps 

Where were you going to source the video from? Raw video is very large. Even if it was compressed, the CPU would need to de-compress it and then transmit at the above rate - I doubt a CPU could handle it.
0 Kudos
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
269 Views

Hmm.....I overlooked that part indeed. I was trying to build a test live streaming platform but considering the CPU bandwidth limitation it seems impossible even if I had a camera attached. I have to find some other options....thanks! :)

0 Kudos
Altera_Forum
Honored Contributor II
269 Views

You might be able to stream a compressed video over the PCIe (100mb/s for 4k would be very good quality) but you need quite a lot of FPGA resources for a H265 decompression core on an FPGA, or you'll have to route it to an H265 decoder chip, which I assume you dont already have on the board.

0 Kudos
Reply