I'm starting to look at a home project for creating a stand alone webcam server. What I'd like to do is have 3-4 usb inputs for webcams, convert the inputs into mpeg and send the data out an ethernet port. I want to be able to support real-time (or close to it) video processing and run a web server in the box also, as well as a few other housekeeping functions and bells and whistles. I'm looking at several options for the processor: the ADI Blackfin, the ADI Sharc and the Arm processor. I'm leaning towards the Blackfin most, but I'd like to know if it has the processing power needed (being 16 bit fixed point, rather than the Sharc 32 bit floating point) to handle 4 camera inputs.
I've done some work with DSPs before ( Freescale 56K series) so I'm not too worried about dealing with any of the procesors I mentioned. I just need some idea on handling the mpeg processing from multiple cam inputs. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
Lee