Ask questions to Sigma Designs insider "kjack"

[lymzy]

Originally Posted by kjack

It requires the latest revision of our chip, and specific HDMI transmitter chips.

Does SMP8635 with SIL9134 qualify for DTS-MA bit-stream output?
Thanks.

[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 Icemage

I'd like to hear your thoughts on where you believe hardware pricing will behave from here in. ... Are the currently and newly announced pricing levels ($199+) in the comfort zone for your clients? I'm not asking about specific units, just an impression of the reactions and enthusiasm you see from your clients - do they seem happier now that (assumably) the price erosion will have slowed somewhat due to some of the price pressure from HD DVD being reduced, or do they believe they can price still lower and maintain profitability with increased volume?

I can see $200-$250 BD players by the end of 2008 due to rapidly falling BOM costs, and competition between the many upcoming BD player manufacturers. There will always be a wide spread of player features/pricing just like for DVD players today.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by lymzy

Does SMP8635 with SIL9134 qualify for DTS-MA bit-stream output?

You will need the SMP8634 rev. C and the SiIL9134 HDMI chip, which our reference design use. The SMP8635 cannot be used since it does not support Macrovision copy protection on the analog video outputs, so our security CPU will not run the AACS code.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by phloyd

Do you have a link for this information? I would like to read more...

http://www.gowellent.net/product%20w...ries/G875.html


But I cannot comment on what chip is used until that info is made publicly in some other way...

[56@Yamamoto]

Hello phloyd, this link.

>>https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...ghlight=GOWELL

[kjack]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Will there be any new Blu-ray players released this year with a Reon or ABT deinterlacing/scaling solution to help SD DVD playback? I know Denon is releasing a unit with the Realta, but that is out of my price range.

There will be players that offer deinterlacing/upscaling based on these types of solutions, including the Gennum VXP chip (we are in the process of buying the VXP group from Gennum).

[kjack]

Originally Posted by plee

Kinda curious on the software/firmware side, do you guys have much involvement? Do you supply a manufacturer some base code to access your chipset? or do they come up on there own from specs?

We have developed our own turn-key BD player solution, including the software/firmware. This is needed for companies that want to make a BD player, but do not have the software resources needed. All they have to do is tweak the hardware design and GUI, which we can help with. If they want to tweak the source code, or add additional software to add DLNA client support, DivX support, etc. that option is available, or we can do it for them.

Alternately, for a large company that has their own software, we help them port it onto our chip.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

How will we get recordable content to them? Will they be firewire equipped? CableCard for cable access? Only useful for OTA?

OTA and some will have cable support via Mcard. Firewire is pretty much dead, and completely dead in 2 years according to the major CE companies. It hasn't kept up with the changing times...

[Grubert]

Keith, is the lack of full speaker setup on the BD-P1400 (channel level and distance) attributable to the Sigma chip inside?

[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.

[KLebda]

Originally Posted by kjack

We have developed our own turn-key BD player solution, including the software/firmware. This is needed for companies that want to make a BD player, but do not have the software resources needed. All they have to do is tweak the hardware design and GUI, which we can help with. If they want to tweak the source code, or add additional software to add DLNA client support, DivX support, etc. that option is available, or we can do it for them.

Alternately, for a large company that has their own software, we help them port it onto our chip.

Keith,

What kind of options are available to the player manufacturers for software updates after initial delivery? And assuming there are options here, do the player manufacturers typically take advantage of them?

I know I would be a lot more likely to take a chance on a second-tier brand if I knew software updates would be available from you guys. Especially if they were coming from a Sigma host.

Ken

[plee]

Originally Posted by kjack

We have developed our own turn-key BD player solution, including the software/firmware. This is needed for companies that want to make a BD player, but do not have the software resources needed. All they have to do is tweak the hardware design and GUI, which we can help with. If they want to tweak the source code, or add additional software to add DLNA client support, DivX support, etc. that option is available, or we can do it for them.

Alternately, for a large company that has their own software, we help them port it onto our chip.

When it comes to testing, do you give the player a test disc with bad data to see how it would react or just put off the shelf disc to see if they play properly?

As a software developer, just curious on how this stuff is done (non-pc).

[kjack]

Originally Posted by plee

When it comes to testing, do you give the player a test disc with bad data to see how it would react or just put off the shelf disc to see if they play properly?

We get test discs (some standard, some proprietary) from BDA companies and advance copies of movies before they are released to retail. Most of our effort in the audio and video decoding development is designing them so they can handle all kiinds of various bitstream errors in a graceful manner.

As a software developer, just curious on how this stuff is done (non-pc).

Still on a PC, then the code is uploaded into the chip...

[desmond]

Originally Posted by kjack

We have developed our own turn-key BD player solution, including the software/firmware. This is needed for companies that want to make a BD player, but do not have the software resources needed. All they have to do is tweak the hardware design and GUI, which we can help with. If they want to tweak the source code, or add additional software to add DLNA client support, DivX support, etc. that option is available, or we can do it for them.

Alternately, for a large company that has their own software, we help them port it onto our chip.

that's great news for everyone. HD media players that support optical as well as streaming of different video formats would be a nice addition and would close the functionality gap with ps3. Would be nice to add divx, xvid and wmv support via DLNA or local HDD. Does your firmware currently support HDD's?

[spicynacho]

How does Sigma's 863x series stack up against panasonic's uniphier? It seems like the uniphier is more fully featured (practically a BD 1.1 player, just add PCB and electricity). Does sigma have a new line coming out to compete?

[kjack]

Originally Posted by spicynacho

How does Sigma's 863x series stack up against panasonic's uniphier? It seems like the uniphier is more fully featured (practically a BD 1.1 player, just add PCB and electricity).

Both solutions just need drive, case, PCB, memory, and electricity. We also support Profile 1.1 and BD-Live. They do have higher performance since it is a newer chip. But also more costly since it is designed for the recorder market, it's a very big chip even in the 45nm process they used.

Does sigma have a new line coming out to compete?

Obviously.

[kjack]

Originally Posted by desmond

Does your firmware currently support HDD's?

Yes...

[spicynacho]

Which foundry and process node do ya'll use?