Ultra-high-definition TV technology, that is, 4k TV, has been eye-catching at the recent CES. Behind this seemingly another "feast" of home appliance manufacturers, it has staged the secret wrestling of chip manufacturers. Marvell and Broadcom all want to be in this market Find your own growth point. After the dazzling concepts of smart TV and cloud TV, 4K TV is obviously a "visible feeling". No matter what kind of "face" TV manufacturers offer, the chip industry will make waves again.
The chip must be fully upgraded
The resolution of the 4K technology display is 4 times that of the 1080p display, which requires an all-round upgrade of the SoC and display driver IC.
The TV chip mainly includes a high-frequency head, a demodulator, a decoder, an image processing chip, and a memory, etc. Generally, the high-frequency head is discrete, and the decoder, interface control, and image processing chip can be integrated into one SoC chip. Chen Ning, director and deputy general manager of Changhong Multimedia Industry Co., said in an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News that the 4k technology marks a major innovation in ultra-high-definition resolution. Its resolution is 4 times that of 1080p and more pixels are processed. Four times, the amount of calculation becomes larger, higher real-time decoding data throughput and faster processing speed are required, and new efficient video coding standards need to be supported, so the SoC needs to be upgraded in all directions. UHD TV chips will form a huge and higher-level market and become a commanding height in the future chip industry. In addition, because the display resolution is greatly improved, the display driver IC also needs to be "upgraded".
In addition to the overall improvement in hardware, Lin Wei, general manager of Beigaozhi Technology North District, an authorized agent of TV solution design chips, said that 4K TVs have higher resolutions and overall optimization of software-related algorithms is required.
The development of 4k TV depends on whether it is an all-in-one or through a set-top box to process ultra-high-definition signals. Yue Ting, a semiconductor analyst at CCID Consulting Co., Ltd., said that it is easier to implement ultra-high-definition design on a set-top box. After decoding different sources such as ground, cable, satellite and other sources and channels on the set-top box, the signal will be ultra-high-definition After processing, it is transmitted to the TV, and the TV SoC chip performs data stream processing according to the screen size, brightness, display screen size, and so on. In addition, to transmit the ultra-high-definition signal from the set-top box to the TV, it also depends on whether the interface supports 4k transmission, and the hardware, software, and standards have to be changed as needed.
If it is an all-in-one, the design considerations will be more and more complex, and the functional chip of the set-top box needs to be designed on the TV PCB board. At present, the industry is not optimistic about the development of the all-in-one. Lin Wei pointed out that the promotion of integrated TV is more difficult because it involves the interests of broadcasting.
What are the opportunities for various vendors?
4K TV is a new display technology. Although the new TV solution platform will take a long time for the market to digest, it is still a big opportunity for chip manufacturers.
Although new business opportunities have already emerged, it is still unknown whether a new round of shuffles can be brought about in a market with a high concentration of TV chips. At present, the leading TV SoC manufacturers are mainly Morningstar, MediaTek, Toshiba, Panasonic, etc., while the set-top box decoder manufacturers are mainly ST, Hisilicon, Broadcom, etc. The recent acquisitions of MediaTek and Morningstar have made waves again, but in any case, the positions of Morningstar and MediaTek in the TV chip industry are still difficult to shake. And, they are also actively planning the 4k TV market. Zhang Zengjun, deputy general manager of Morningstar Software R & D (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., also said that Morningstar has developed samples with customers and will begin mass production this year. Broadcom recently launched the first ultra-high-definition TV video decoder solution.
From the perspective of industry development, some mobile terminal chip manufacturers have also entered the TV industry after succeeding in smart phones and tablet computers. For manufacturers, smart TV chips are a new value depression, after all, 4k chips are not as demanding as mobile phones and tablet chips in power consumption. Now major manufacturers such as Content, Intel, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Apple, Samsung and others have begun to put pressure on them. Some TV manufacturers have adopted the TV chips of the above manufacturers. Will 4K TVs reshape the pattern of the chip industry?
Lin Wei believes that 4k TV is a new display technology, which is still a big opportunity for chip manufacturers. However, since the new TV solution platform will take a long time for the market to digest, the 2013 entry will be in the "starting" stage. But by 2014, market opportunities will be found.
But Chen Ning believes that there will not be too many opportunities for Chinese manufacturers. He explained that chip development is a problem, but industrialization is another problem. Domestic chips have not formed a climate in the field of 2k or below, it is difficult to leapfrog in the field of 4k. In addition, in the TV market, it is not necessary to develop so-called decoders to "enter the room". It also needs to cover the most basic knowledge of the TV industry, such as the cooperation with the display driver, how to handle the picture quality, and mass production. If there is no certain precipitation and foundation in the market, it is difficult for TV customers to provide opportunities to verify their chips.
ARM architecture accelerates penetration
With the increasing application of the ARM architecture, many newly developed TV SoC chips also use the ARM architecture, which will have a profound impact on the TV chip pattern.
As the future form of TV evolves, it will also have a profound impact on the direction of the chip industry. Lin Wei pointed out that the future format of the TV will change a lot. The TV is likely to be a display, and the information on the PC will be transmitted to the TV through wired or wireless means. This is a major trend. As a result, the requirements for SoC chips may be lower.
In addition, the development of tuners is also worth noting. Chen Ning pointed out that in the future, the tuner may no longer be modular, but can be integrated into a single chip.
The current mobile terminal chips have been integrated with smart TVs on the technology platform. The high processing requirements of UHD TVs for chip processing have created a broad value space for mobile terminal chip manufacturers. They carried out some technical transformations on the original chip and applied it to the TV. The chip showed a unified trend. For example, Qualcomm has announced that it will further classify the Snapdragon S4 series processors, while supporting TVs and set-top boxes. At the recent CES, Marvell's ARMADA1500 series SoC platforms, which are widely used in smart TVs and set-top boxes such as Hisense, TCL, and Lenovo, are based on the ARM architecture. This also shows that, in terms of chip architecture, because ARM has a dominant trend in mobile portable terminals, this influence will also extend to TV terminals.
Lin Wei pointed out that in the past, TV SoC manufacturers used different architectures. Because the chips are not unified, each functional module needs to be redesigned and developed. And TV manufacturers need to adopt a lot of technology transplantation in device docking, which consumes a lot of costs. With the increasing application of the ARM architecture, many newly developed TV SoC chips also use the ARM architecture, which will reduce the difficulty of development.
The development of TV SoCs using the ARM architecture is also attractive to TV manufacturers. Lin Wei said that because of the powerful functions of these chips, the TV will not only play the role of "display", but also can be differentiated design to meet different market positioning needs.
Vendor perspective
Zhang Zengjun, Deputy General Manager of Morningstar Software R & D (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
4k display chip cost does not increase much
4k TVs will definitely catch on fire, because this is a function that users can see. If the quantity is increased, the cost will also decrease, and the increase in the cost of chips that support 4k display is not as high as imagined.
Because the ultra-high-definition shooting and display market for handheld devices is also starting, the industry chain is still developing synchronously. Just as the 1080P market replaced the standard-definition market, smart terminals also require 4k display functions.
Chen Ning, Deputy General Manager of Changhong Multimedia Industry Corporation
Only after the volume is increased can the cost decrease
4K TVs have not yet been scaled up, so the cost of SoC chips is still relatively high, and the cost will not drop until the volume is increased. This is because the 4k TV has just come out, whether it is the display or the whole machine is very expensive. The second is that there is no film source, and there is no 4k-related transmission standard, but 4k TV is a development trend, and Changhong is also in the early stage of development. When it is launched, it depends on the market response.
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