Numato Lab is a Bangalore based company specializing in MCU and FPGA boards such as the low cost Mimas V2 Spartan 6 board, and their latest board is also based on a Spartan 6 FPGA, but a more powerful part with LX45T FPGA, and targets video applications with two HDMI inputs, two HDMI outputs, one DisplayPort output, and one DisplayPort input, among other interfaces.
Instead of simply listing specifications of Numato Opsis, I’ll reproduce a table – drawn by Numato – showing Opsis features and specifications against some other FPGA video platforms.
| Opsis | miniSpartan6+ | Mixxeo | Atlys | Nexys | Anvyl | CVK 2.0 | AVDB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make | Numato | ScarabHardware | MLabs | Digilent | Digilent | Digilent | TED | OmniTek |
| License |
Open
|
Open
|
Open
|
Closed
|
Closed
|
Closed
|
Closed
|
Closed
|
| Cost | USD $349 | USD $105 | no stock | USD $419 | USD $499 | USD $539 | USD $2,995 | USD $999 |
| FPGA | ||||||||
| Fab | Xilinx | Xilinx | Xilinx | Xilinx | Xilinx | Xilinx | Xilinx | Altera |
| Family | Spartan6 | Spartan6 | Spartan6 | Spartan6 | Artix7 | Spartan6 | Spartan6 | Cyclone V |
| Part | LX45T | LX25 | LX45 | LX45 | XC7A200T | LX45 | LX150T | GT |
| Memory | ||||||||
| Type | DDR31600 | 166MHz SDRAM | DDR1400 | DDR2800 | DDR31600 | DDR2800 | DDR31600 | DDR31600 |
| Size | 256MB | 32MB | 2 x 64MB | 128MB | 256MB | 128MB | 128MB | 2 x 128MB |
| HDMI | ||||||||
| Inputs | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Outputs | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 [1] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| CEC Support |
All Ports
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
| Hotplug Ctrl |
All Ports
|
No
|
All Inputs
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
| VGA Out |
Expansion
|
0
|
1
|
Expansion
|
Expansion
|
0
|
Expansion
|
0
|
| DisplayPort | ||||||||
| Inputs |
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
| Outputs |
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
| Dual mode [2] |
Yes
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
?
|
Yes
|
| USB 2.0 | ||||||||
| Device |
FX2 [4] and UTMI OTG
|
No
|
No
|
FX2[3]
|
No
|
FX2[3]
|
No
|
No
|
| Host |
UTMI OTG
|
<td>
No
|
HID only
|
HID only
|
HID only
|
No
|
No
|
|
| JTAG |
Yes [4]
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes [3]
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| UART |
Yes [4]
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Ethernet | ||||||||
| Speed |
Gigabit
|
None
|
100Mbit
|
Gigabit
|
Gigabit
|
100Mbit
|
Expansion
|
Gigabit
|
| Unique MAC |
Yes
|
N/A
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
N/A
|
Yes
|
| microSD |
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
No
|
| Config Storage | 16 Mbyte SPI | 8 Mbyte SPI | 32 Mbyte PROM | 16 Mbyte SPI | 32 Mbyte SPI | 16 Mbyte SPI | 16 Mbyte SPI | 2 x 32 Mbyte SPI |
| Audio |
Expansion
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Expansion
|
Yes
|
| High-Speed Expansion |
TOFE
|
No
|
No
|
VHDCI
|
FMC LPC
|
No
|
3 x FMC LPC, 1 x FMC HPC
|
No
|
| PMOD Connectors |
Expansion
|
0
|
0
|
1 [1]
|
5
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
The mini-ITX board has been designed using KiCad open source software tool, and hardware design files can be found on github. The default firmware, also free and open source, is called HDMI2USB.tv and allows users to record video from HDMI or DisplayPort inputs to a computer (the board emulates a UVC webcam), while simultaneously outputting the input to multiple video outputs, which can be very useful for conferences. A more advanced scenario would be to have two video inputs with one HDMI camera capturing the speaker, with the other HDMI input connected to his laptop to show the presentation slides, and the system would switch between the two inputs as needed, while broadcasting the video to various outputs.
Beside being used as a video platform, the board can also be used for various other tasks as a Xilinx FPGA development board with high-speed transceivers, expansion I/Os and more.
The project has launched on Crowdsupply platform, where the company aims to raise a mere $8,725. Numato Opsis board requires a $349 pledge with free shipping to the US, and $15 to the rest of the world. Delivery is scheduled for December 2015.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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This Numato board has a lot in common with Milymist, who was developed by a friend of Mine, lekernel:
http://lekernel.net/blog/
@zoobab
Opsis was inspired by your friend’s platform:
:/ any board with 1xSDI input, 2xSDI output?
@zoobab
We definitely hope that people who were interested in the Milkymist are also interested in our Opsis platform. We actually use the misoc/migen gateware that was developed as part of the Milkymist V2 (the Mixxeo) in our HDMI2USB project.
USB 2.0 seems to be too slow for multi-stream capturing.
The project has passed its funding target, now 120% funded, see https://www.crowdsupply.com/numato-lab/opsis/updates/1819.