Media Players Chipsets

HD Media Player Chipsets ve 800mhz ye doğru... tolga_06tr 01-10-2009, 16:03 in the range of sigma processsors it is: CE3100 >864x > 865x > 863x > 862x The first chipset to be capable of decoding 1080p full-HD video was the 8635/4, clocked at 300mhz, from a company called Sigma Designs. The Sigma 8635 spawned a whole series of Media Players from early 2008 onwards. It was these players that kick-started the Media Player revolution. Manufacturers released machines with modified versions of the original Sigma firmware, so the Sigma 8635 machines are not identical. There are differences in all areas, from user interface to marginal decoding performance. 863X Players: Popcorn Hour A-110 WDTV Dune HD Base EGreat EG-M34A Myka Tvix M-7000A QNAP NMP-1000 HDX 1000 The well known Sigma 8635 players are now highly stable products. This maturity was achieved through firmware development throughout the lifecycle of the player. When looking at Media Player chipsets, it is important to also take notice of the level of firmware development and likely future development. The Sigma 8635 is now being superseded by newer chipsets, aimed squarely at the growing Media Player market. Limitations of the Sigma 8635 such as slow user interface, limited DTS support, and just general lack of power are being addresses in a new generation of chips released in 2009. http://www.iboum.com/wbim/realtek.jpg The Realtek 1283 / 1073 chipset range appeared in mid 2009 and is clocked between the old Sigma 863x and the newer Sigma 864x/865x. The base Realtek firmware provides wide format support and high quality video at a low price. A deluge of cheap Realtek based Media Players are expected in late 2009. These will include the 1073 based ACRyan PlayOn, ASUS O!Play, Mvix Ultio, and the 1283 based Xtreamer, amongst many many others. The 1073 is simply the 1283 with some DTV functions stripped out, they are otherwise the same chip providing the same performance in a Media Player. The only performance difference amongst the Realteks is that the Xtreamer is clocked at 450mhz rather than 400mhz. Realtek Players: Xtreamer Mvix Ultio ACRyan Playon!HD Asus O!Play DViCO Tvix 6600 MediaGate M2TV Brite-View CinemaTube IcyBox IB-MP305 Sigma itself has now released both 8640 series and 8650 series chipsets, with the first player featuring the 8640 (Popcorn Hour C-200) being shipped in September 2009, and the first 8655 players coming late in 2009. It is unclear which of the 864X and 865X is the quicker chip. From Sigma literature it appears that the 864X is clocked faster than the 865X (667mhz vs. 500mhz) and also has more audio processing power. How these differences translate into Media Player performance can only be determined when examples of both players are available for testing. 864X Players: Popcorn Hour C-200 Dune HD Base 3.0 865X Players: Eminent EM7075 Datastor Media Player In late 2009 Intel is expected to release it's own new media processor, the 800 MHz CE3100. This chip promises to take everything one stage further towards a single integrated home entertainment hub with computer functions. In some ways it is really just a Pentium M rebadged. It will be interesting to see how this chip compares (including for price) when devices are released utilising it such as the Conceptronic Yuixx. http://www.iboum.com/wbim/intel.jpg CE3100 Players: Conceptronic Yuixx There has been a lot of controversy about the relative qualities of Sigma vs. Realtek. Our opinion is that the Realtek is a very capable chip, certainly on a par with every other chipset currently available. As a 'new' chip it is miles ahead of the Sigma 8635 at a similar stage in it's development. It is impossible to accurately gauge the performance levels of the newest chipsets whilst very few units have been shipped and the firmware implementations are at an early stage. We think it is safe to say, however, that the newer chips are technically more powerful than their predecessors. Early testing seems to bear this out. They are also cheaper. All the Realtek machines are currently cheaper than the Sigmas. Often much cheaper. It is this fact that leads us to believe that Realtek will come to dominate the Media Player market in 2009. The new generation of Media Player users will be less concerned about whether a player can play obscure file formats and more concerned with the usability of the device and it's price. In the near future we would expect the range of HD formats being used to become much more narrow, largely negating the format issue. Interface and additional web-based services will become much more important to the bulk of users.