Mediatek has always been known for Wi-Fi and mobile chips, but did you know they also made chipsets for televisions? Oh, this one’s in 8K which is astounding.
It’s not unusual that TVs today get a ridiculously high picture resolution. Most TVs today are either FHD or 4K. There are TVs that can support 8K, but these are usually upscaled. The higher the resolution, the lesser you can see the pixels, which means sharper, higher clarity images.
Today, Mediatek has announced the world’s first chipset that can natively support 8K resolution, the Mediatek Pentonic 2000. According to the company, this will power up next-generation 8K TVs which would be released starting next year. This chip is built from Mediatek’s innovative advancements in regards to audio, display, AI, broadcasting, and connectivity. The company currently powers more than 2 billion TVs globally, an astoundingly large and surprisingly unforeseen achievement.
“MediaTek has built its multimedia expertise over the past two decades and is now the No. 1 chipset provider for smart TVs. The introduction of the Pentonic brand continues our legacy as we focus on pushing the boundaries of innovation in the smart TV market,” said Dr. Mike Chang, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Smart Home Business Group at MediaTek. “The new Pentonic 2000 chip is designed with all the flagship features consumers are looking for – from the latest display and audio technologies to super-fast refresh rates, powerful AI capabilities, picture-in-picture streaming, and more.”
The Pentonic 2000 is also the world’s first TV chip manufactured based on a TSMC 7nm process. This manufacturing process should deliver an unparalleled performance increase and better power efficiency compared to chips manufactured in the last generation. As mentioned in the title, the main selling point of this chipset is the native 8K resolution support, up to 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 144Hz when connected to PCs and ninth-gen consoles like the Playstation 5 and Xbox One X. It is also the first TV chipset with 8K@120Hz MEMC engine.
While it can natively support 8K, it can also upscale lower-res displays thanks to the highly intelligent APU (AI Processing Unit) that Mediatek has included with the chip. This APU uses Mediatek’s Super AI Resolution technology to make the process possible, resulting in a high-quality, sharp image even when upscaled to the display’s native resolution.
In addition to the vast connectivity and resolution improvements, the chipset also comes with UFS 3.1 storage for fast reading and writing times as well as an ultra-wide memory bus. Devices can also connect through the TV that uses this chipset through 5G or Wi-Fi connectivity, up to Wi-Fi 6E, and provide wireless streaming of up to 8K resolution. Or stream multiple displays at once.
The Pentonic 2000 has many firsts, including the ones listed already. It is also the first 8K chip with VVC (Versatile Video Coding), and H.266 media support that allows for better compression (though not necessarily better compatibility) than H.264 or H.265. The chipset also supports Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision providing an immersive and nearly cinematic experience. Lastly, the chip also provides support AV1 for streaming services and global TV broadcasting standards including ATSC 3.0
The chipset should be available for TVs releasing next year.
Source: Mediatek