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Panasonic including DivX Plus HD (MKV) support into next gen Blu-ray players, TVs

by Richard Lawler posted Sep 11th 2009 at 4:42PM

Nearly a year after Panasonic stepped the UniPhier chips at the heart of its Blu-ray players up to DivX HD, comes word that the company is moving on up to DivX Plus HD (read: Up to 1080p h.264 video in an MKV container) next time around. That includes not only its next line of Blu-ray set-top players we're sure to see unveiled at CES, but also digital TVs and in-car players, so between Panasonic and NEC MKV fans should be able to take their videos even more places without the extra step of transcoding in 2010.

NEC chips to include DivX Plus HD support

by Richard Lawler posted Aug 21st 2009 at 8:19PM

Expect even higher quality DivX playback from Blu-ray players, HDTVs and other devices, now that NEC has signed a deal to implement DivX Plus HD (aka h.264 in an MKV container with AAC audio) support in its EMMA chipset family. The company has already signed up chipmakers Sigma and Trident, anything rocking the appropriate logo should be able to handle content at resolutions up to 1080p, or older DivX encoded files, so feel free to plug those USB sticks and network cables into home theater equipment anywhere.

Ralink and Celeno team up on HD WiFi home networking wares

by Darren Murph posted Jun 1st 2009 at 8:00AM


We've known for some while that Celeno had a thing for high-def over WiFi, and that favoritism has never been more clear. Today, the outfit is announcing a partnership with Ralink that will hopefully lead to an array of WiFi home networking designs that are optimized for HD video distribution. The first solution will combine the CL1300 and CLR230 802.11n chipsets along with Ralink's RT2880 and RT2850 chips. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if Celeno is announcing any set-top-boxes to contain said solution just yet, but hopefully that's just a few months away. Hey, CEDIA ain't too far off, is it? Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Ralink and Celeno team up on HD WiFi home networking wares

SiS breaks out, develops ATSC HDTV SoC chipset

by Darren Murph posted Feb 19th 2009 at 5:55PM

Silicon Integrated Systems is best known for its southbridge solutions, at least one of which is likely within the PC you're currently using. For whatever reason, the company has decided to try its hand in the HDTV market by announcing its very own ATSC HDTV SoC chipset. The SiS328 chipset is designed to be implanted in LCD TVs in order to bring ATSC tuning capabilities to an otherwise vanilla monitor. The chip features the company's Digital Nature Video Engine (DNVE) technology, a dual-input HDMI 1.3 receiver, 3D comb filter, two USB 2.0 ports, five analog audio stereo inputs and everything else necessary to deliver ATSC tuning to an LCD TV. There's no indication of which TV makers (if any) are taking SiS up on its new offering, but the chip will be available for shipment starting in early Q2.

[Via Beyond3D]

MediaTek and Sunplus to offer Blu-ray Disc chipsets next year

by Darren Murph posted Dec 23rd 2008 at 12:24AM

While the average consumer won't care an awful lot about what goes into a Blu-ray Disc chipset, here's something anyone working hard for every dollar they earn can appreciate: more competition. Word on the street has it that both MediaTek and Sunplus Technology, two Taiwan-based consumer IC design houses, are fixing to certify their own Blu-ray Disc chipsets and to ship 'em as early as Q2 2009. The two outfits are expected to compete with Samsung and Broadcom, though there's no word yet on potential customers for their wares.

CoAir: world's first UWB chipset with wireless, coax and gigabit Ethernet

by Darren Murph posted Jun 24th 2008 at 8:47AM

Sigma Designs has been dabbling in wireless HD technologies for eons, so we aren't going to get too excited until we see this here system-on-chip (SoC) actually hit some products that we care about. Still, the CoAir is a fairly sweet concept, wrapping integrated wireless, coax and gigabit Ethernet capabilities into one single chip aimed at whole home networking. Put simply (or as simply as possible), this chip is the world's first to "simultaneously deliver multiple independent streams of video and data over coax cable, Ethernet cable and wirelessly without compromising quality of service and throughput." Based on the WiMedia standard, it can reach speeds of up to 480Mbps with UWB (ultra-wideband) wireless streaming, and room-to-room linkage via UWB-over-coax can peg those same rates. What we have here is a great basis for building a whole home server on, but until said device emerges and performs flawlessly, we'll just smile and carry on.

STS reveals DARR81 chip, handles all sorts of multi-channel audio streaming

by Darren Murph posted Dec 23rd 2007 at 3:47PM

It's not often that we'll take time out to cover a single chip, but when said chip can handle "streaming of up to eight different concurrent single streams or four bi-directional streams of HD audio," we figure it's worthy of a mention. The STS DARR81 allows HD audio to be both transmitted and received with a single device simultaneously, and it also supports "5.1 and 7.1 surround sound, headphone and multi-room applications at the same time." Currently, we're not exactly sure what types of electronics will be housing these in 2008, but a slew of gear based on STS' technology will reportedly be showcased (and peeked by us) at CES next month.

[Via Embedded]

Microsemi's DAZL! technology aids in LED-based LCD production

by Darren Murph posted Jul 24th 2007 at 4:02PM


Although the rollout of LED-backlit LCDs is still in the early stages, Microsemi is banking on its latest breakthrough to provide "system-level solutions that accelerate the design of advanced LED-based backlighting for large screen LCD televisions." Dubbed DAZL! (Digital Advanced Zone Lighting), the chipsets reportedly produce unprecedented "uniformity of color, brightness, contrast, blur-free performance, and energy savings," and moreover, they reduce the number of components needed to build LED backlights. Currently, the firm is already testing the waters by sampling flat-panel manufacturers who supposedly plan on implementing its technology in their next-generation sets, so we'll just hold tight 'til 2008 and see exactly how dazzled we really are.

Hisense and Metalink ready to stream multiple HD feeds over 802.11n

by Darren Murph posted Jul 9th 2007 at 3:31PM

For those of you yearning for a little more oomph in your wireless HD options, Hisense and Metalink have heard (and answered) the call. The two firms are collaborating to unveil solutions to HD streaming that "enable the wireless transmission of multiple HDTV streams from centrally-located DTVs, PVRs and STBs to any room in the house." Based around Metalink's WLANPlus chipset, devices sporting the newfangled technology will be capable of supporting up to 300Mbps transmission speeds using both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands; moreover, Metalink claims that this creation offers "more than twice the reach of competing 802.11n solutions" due to its implementation of a Maximum Likelihood (ML) decoder combined with advanced Forward Error Correction (FEC) scheme and the use of Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) technology. A lot of jargon, we know, but cramming chipsets that can handle a bevy of HD streams on a vanilla 802.11n network into gateways and access points makes perfect sense to us.

Tzero's WiMedia-based ZeroWire uses UWB for HD streaming

by Darren Murph posted Jun 12th 2007 at 5:52AM

While Tzero has been at the forefront of ultra wideband technology for some time, the firm is upping the stakes even higher with its WiMedia-based TZC7200 ZeroWire chipset. The UWB semiconductor solution was designed to deliver "real-time high-definition video" either wirelessly or over cabling, and can even open new doors for "distributing entertainment content throughout the entire home using existing coax." Reportedly, this device can pipe multiple streams of HD video through your average cable network at the tune of 480Mbps, and it boasts application integration including IP, UDP, TCP/IP, multicast, and unicast. Notably, ZeroWire is "comprised of both a Radio Frequency IC (RFIC) as well as a baseband and media access control system-on-chip," and while the chipset is listed is being available immediately, you'll need to contact Tzero yourself to fetch the pricing details.

Taiwan drive makers response to NEC Blu-ray / HD DVD combo: Thanks but no thanks

by Richard Lawler posted Oct 12th 2006 at 10:26AM

This is getting really tired.It seems like every time we're progressing towards a cheap and easy compromise to the Blu-ray / HD DVD format war hope is quickly snatched away and replaced with a stinging dose of harsh reality. This time the bad news comes courtesy of Digitimes, speaking to various Taiwanese optical disc-drive manufacturers, who reports they are not particularly enthused by NEC's just-announced dual format chipset. Despite its low cost, the prospect of manufacturing drives with optical heads for both formats and other costs is still too expensive to be worthwhile. The only good news seems to be that they did not rule out the future possibility of multi-drives -- perhaps once Ricoh's all-in-one laser is finished -- just not yet.




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