Ask questions to Sigma Designs insider "kjack"

[WickyWoo]

Please return to track. Start a new thread in off-topic if you want to argue the evils of ClearPlay

[milou6]

Originally Posted by kjack

There are several levels the viewer can select from.

I suppose my concern lies in preserving the artist's intent -- I know that there are already several factors that may muddy the intent along the way to the screen, and different regions can get different edits, but adding the layer of selective consumer censorship scares me. The v chip is a show/no-show deal, which is perfect -- you see it as intended or you don't see it at all. The consumer should have a sense of what they are getting into thanks to trailers and the current ratings scheme.

I know film is not always art, but selectively pre-censoring one's exposure to art is contrary to the experience of art. I often see things that I don't agree with, that had I magically been the director I would have changed, but I AM NOT THE DIRECTOR or associated with the film on any level beyond the viewing experience -- how ignorant and presumptuous of me to say "edit out anything with bare breasts because it can't be good". With that reasoning we'd still be in the dark ages.

[milou6]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Please return to track. Start a new thread in off-topic if you want to argue the evils of ClearPlay

Sorry Wicky -- I helped start this -- all done on my end and apologies to kjack.

[HeavyHitter]

Keith,

Are we going to see any Sigma based players released this year which will exceed current Blu-ray players in terms of picture quality? I realize the differences may be slight, but I'm always looking for even small improvements. I'm using the Pansonic BD30 right now which is quite good.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by kjack

Turns out it is a decoder implementation problem. Our decoder implementation doesn't have the issue...

Good news.

Gary

[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.

[barsk]

Originally Posted by kjack

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.

Thanks for the info Keith! A bit dissapointing, but somehow we in PAL-land seems to be forgotten all the time... The HD era I hope will remedy that.

So I guess what happens on PAL 50 Hz DVD's is that the media player will use plain BOB deinterlacing? Or is it least adaptive motion detection deinterlacing?
The main question here is if the vertical reolution is cut by half or not?

On NTSC (60 Hz) proper 3:2 pulldown is used with full vertical resolution?

Btw, what are those new chips called? So I can look out for devices containing them in the future...

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by kjack

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%...

I recall you mentioning how complex the first HD decoding chips were relative to things done in the past.

How are the these ones relative to the first one?

[TechJunkie]

Originally Posted by kjack

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

Thanks, kjack.

Is this something that could one day find itself inside the Xbox 360 or a future game console or is it strictly limited to dedicated set-top boxes and/or media extenders?

[kjack]

Originally Posted by TechJunkie

Is this something that could one day find itself inside the Xbox 360 or a future game console or is it strictly limited to dedicated set-top boxes and/or media extenders?

You'll never see it a game console as they go for max performance, not lowest cost/power.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

I recall you mentioning how complex the first HD decoding chips were relative to things done in the past. How are the these ones relative to the first one?

And it's only going to get worse... What is amazing is how fast the software from previous chip can be ported over. In a few days we had BD software running on the SMP8654 just to evaluate the performance. And in a few days, had the MSFT IPTV client running to demo at NAB.

[CaptainBli]

I have heard of some Chinese and Hong Kong manufacturers developing players based on your chipsets. Are they required to go through the same licensing and development outside of the US as inside?

Will they be held to high standards in quality by Sigma Designs, so as to not belittle your efforts in developing a good chip?

[kjack]

Originally Posted by CaptainBli

I have heard of some Chinese and Hong Kong manufacturers developing players based on your chipsets. Are they required to go through the same licensing and development outside of the US as inside?

All manufacturers are required to get all the same licensing and pass all the same verification tests.

Will they be held to high standards in quality by Sigma Designs, so as to not belittle your efforts in developing a good chip?

These are based on our PC board design and software, so should be very high quality. The only software changes they do is modify the player GUI by editing bitmaps. Some will offer additional features that were integrated into our software with our help and the help of 3rd parties that already ported their software to our chip. They all use name-brand drives. The build quality of the case, power supply, etc. is outside our control...

[DWalla]

Originally Posted by CaptainBli

Sorry I missed the request for the features as well. So far All the features I read here would be great but it is missing one.

I think BD players need to have better parental controls like ClearPlay.
clearplay.com/about.aspx

Any chance this will come about in the players Keith?

ClearPlay has a Blu-Ray player in the works. It is rumored to be coming out later this year. (I live here in Utah where they make ClearPlay and have asked them about this very subject)

[WickyWoo]

ClearPlay has a Blu-Ray player in the works. It is rumored to be coming out later this year. (I live here in Utah where they make ClearPlay and have asked them about this very subject)

Don't hold your breath. Correct me if I'm wrong KJack, but given that you can't even do bookmarking without a built-in BD-J application because of the copy protection, how likely is it do you think that some company with no access to the metal (no studio wants them to be playing with their movies in the first place) is going to be able to be able to make that work, especially when even if they managed BD+ will almost certainly shut it down for unauthorized access to the stream, and they'll definately get hit with a DMCA smack if they're monkeying around with that.

Nintendo vs Galoob is the only thing keeping them in business