Ask questions to Sigma Designs insider "kjack"

[iceman]

This thread is dedicated to asking questions of industry insider "kjack" (Sigma Designs) who has graciously taken the time to participate here. kjack and all our insiders do this out of their free time and to try to keep us informed to their best abilities, and therefore are to be treated with respect and courtesy.

Before asking a question, please skim at least the last weeks worth of posts in order to make sure that the question hasn't already been asked or answered. Using the search function is also always a good idea. Please conduct your inquiries in a professional manner and avoid asking "chicken little" questions or asking when unannounced titles will come out.

kjack - Sigma Designs - Intro - Track posts

[aygie]

Hi Keith

Do you know if the Marantz player will be upgradable to profile 2.0?

Thanks

[desmond]

Hi Keith,

will new samsung player use sigma's chip?

Thanks.

[blitz6speed]

Will we ever see a Hollywood + card type device for Blu-Ray at any point for HTPCs?

[jason_grumpy]

Keith,

With BD-Live on the horizon, do you see any future Blu players that will incorporate 802.11G (other than the PS3)? If not, could you suggest this to the CE's?

This would make since, as many people rely on wireless access and do not wish to spend the money or time running wired connections through walls.

[scott1256ca]

I think I like this format. Your posts won't get lost.

Keith:
There has been a lot of talk about DTS HDMA and passing it bitstream to a receiver for decode there. My understanding was the the Sigma Designs chips have been able to support this for a while. So why are so few designs seeming to want to do this? Are they using IC's from you that don't support it?

Second, more to HDMI 1.3 spec. My understanding was that if you advertised HDMI 1.3, that you basically had to be capable of passing bitstream for DTS HDMA. Is that not the case?

Thanks.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by jason_grumpy

With BD-Live on the horizon, do you see any future Blu players that will incorporate 802.11G (other than the PS3)? If not, could you suggest this to the CE's? This would make since, as many people rely on wireless access and do not wish to spend the money or time running wired connections through walls.

I got a quote not too long ago for running wired connections through my walls at home...

Using 802.11g/n makes sense, and I can see it happening. One question I'll have to investigate is whether protected content (downloaded subtitles, audio tracks, previews, etc.) can be sent over it or not. But for general internet access it makes sense.

CE companies would also like to get rid of the wired connection to the TV by eventually going wireless for that.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by blitz6speed

Will we ever see a Hollywood + card type device for Blu-Ray at any point for HTPCs?

Not from Sigma. We looked at doing one a couple of years ago, but there were too many issues interfacing to the graphics card and too much potential liability from the content protection viewpoint.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by kjack

Not from Sigma. We looked at doing one a couple of years ago, but there were too many issues interfacing to the graphics card and too much potential liability from the content protection viewpoint.

Wow, blast from the past. I think I remember you commenting on this in late 2005, about the same time Microsoft decided it wouldn't try an HD DVD player for XP.

A very wise decision for Sigma, I think. Especially in retrospect.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by desmond

will new samsung player use sigma's chip?

Sorry, but I can't comment on who is using our chip in what until it has become public knowledge.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by Aygie

Do you know if the Marantz player will be upgradable to profile 2.0?

Sorry, but I cannot comment on specific upcoming BD players regarding features, price, etc.

[jorg]

Originally Posted by Iceman

This thread is dedicated to asking questions of industry insider "kjack" (Sigma Designs) who has graciously taken the time to participate here. kjack and all our insiders do this out of their free time and to try to keep us informed to their best abilities, and therefore are to be treated with respect and courtesy.

Before asking a question, please skim at least the last weeks worth of posts in order to make sure that the question hasn't already been asked or answered. Using the search function is also always a good idea. Please conduct your inquiries in a professional manner and avoid asking "chicken little" questions or asking when unannounced titles will come out.

kjack - Sigma Designs - Intro - Track posts

1. do you exspect your company(sigma)s dominanc in the prossing in blu-ray player prossesors to contiune

2. why do u think hd dvd first players had a p4 at 2.4 ghz in them?

3. great to see you

[kjack]

Originally Posted by jorg

1. do you exspect your company(sigma)s dominanc in the prossing in blu-ray player prossesors to contiune

Time will tell...

2. why do u think hd dvd first players had a p4 at 2.4 ghz in them?

Faster time to market, as it enabled running software developed on a PC with minimum optimization.

[John Coulter]

Hi Keith,

Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge with us.

The Panasonic DMP-BD30 reportedly resumes playback after the player has been turned off. This is a feature that's important to me. Can we expect all (or most) players to eventually have this capability? Is there a reason more players don't do it already?

Thanks.

[rocknemeth]

Dear Sir - I must ask if there will soon be any machines available which will have the chipset enabled for Karaoke functions, either Sigma or Uniphier?
I perform with Laserdisc,VCD and Dvd Karaoke Enabled machines now, however with the news that Buena Vista and also a Mariah Carey BD will be released with Karaoke included I would like to know how soon the industry will be making the Karaoke Players?

[WickyWoo]

Not that I'm a fan of those, but i hope that they actually mean karaoke rather than sing-a-long

[barsk]

Hi!

This may be slightly OT, but I think of interest to anybody reading this thread.

I am curious about wether the SMP8635 can do proper 3:2 and 2:2 pulldown to properly deinterlace film material? The 2:2 pulldown is for PAL DVD's which are recorded in 50 Hz interlaced in contrast to NTSC DVDs that are stored in 60 Hz interlaced.

The PopCorn Hour A-100 mediastreamer/extender that is hugely popular right now is based on the SMP8635 chip. I will be feeding it both NTSC and PAL DVD's as well as pure interlaced video in 50 Hz PAL format. Can it properly decode this into progressive video?

The PopCorn Hour is also known by the platform name "Networked Media Tank", aka NMT by Syabas.

Any insights into this is would be very welcome.

Regards
Barsk

[TechJunkie]

Keith,

Any additional information that you might be able to shed on this news and if it has any future implications for downloadable HD content?

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/s...leID=207200734

[kjack]

Originally Posted by TechJunkie

Any additional information that you might be able to shed on this news and if it has any future implications for downloadable HD content?

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/s...leID=207200734

Well, they forget to mention support for the AVS video codec, 12-bit xvYCC video processing, and the ability to lower BOM costs for the set-top box by 20-30%...

Although this chip is designed specifically for IPTV applications, I could see it also being used in Vista Media Center Extender designs at some point to improve their performance and lower costs. It could also be used for low-cost set-top boxes for downloading and viewing HD content (no PC required).

More info on the chip can be found here:

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/public/P...SMP8654_br.pdf

[kjack]

Originally Posted by barsk

I am curious about wether the SMP8635 can do proper 3:2 and 2:2 pulldown to properly deinterlace film material? The 2:2 pulldown is for PAL DVD's which are recorded in 50 Hz interlaced in contrast to NTSC DVDs that are stored in 60 Hz interlaced.

I don't think we've implemented the 2:2 pulldown due to hardware limitations. It's been fixed and much improved on the new chips coming out.