Design of an MPEG-2 codec

We review the design of a single-chip MPEG-2 a/v codec, covering the design process from the MPEG specifications and system requirements to the final design. After a brief overview of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards, we examine the system requirements using as an example a universal serial bus (USB)-based MPEG-2 real-time digital video recorder. Finally, we present in more detail the hardware and software architecture of a specific MPEG a/v codec.