Wall Screen: an Ultra-High Definition Video-Card for the Internet of Things

8 k ultra-high definition (UHD) is paving the way for the next-generation video systems. In the audiovisual industry, besides delivering a more immersive experience, it is a mean to smooth spatial artifacts during video sampling. In the medical industry, it may provide surgeons with increased reality in surgeries such as endoscopy. Nevertheless, researchers are struggling to meet the high throughput required by this resolution and hardware solutions miss the flexibility required for on-demand updates. In this context, we propose an 8 k video-card based on a hybrid platform endowed with “soft” programmable logic and “hard” processors. The former accelerates the video pipeline from capture to encoding and playback—via SDI or PCIe. The later connects with a cloud to stream video and interfaces with the user. Results showed that our platform outputs 8 k UHD video in YUV 4:2:2 10-bits and H.264 formats at 60 and 30 frames per second, respectively.