Perhaps better known for producing smartphone processors such as the Dimensity 1200, MediaTek also supplies chips for devices ranging from smart speakers, set-top boxes, and pretty much anything that requires some smarts. Having sold more than two billion of its TV chips globally, MediaTek has today announced the launch of its MT9638 chip that could well provide the smarts for your next television.
Sporting cutting-edge AI technology for AI Super Resolution, AI Picture Quality, and AI voice assistants, the chip also supports variable refresh rates, and motion estimation and compensation. As you might expect, 4K is front and center while there is also support for WiFi 6 and HDMI 2.1.
“As smart home appliances become more intelligent and diversified, smart TVs are becoming the new hub for the smart home as consumers take advantage of AI-enabled multimedia features to control all their devices right from their TV,” said Alex Chen, General Manager of the TV Business Unit at MediaTek. “The new MT9638 continues our legacy as the No. 1 chip provider of smart TVs, bringing consumers incredible AI, multimedia, gaming and entertainment experiences in theater-quality 4K.”
Chip Specifications:
- A multi-core Arm Cortex-A55 CPU, Arm Mali-G52 GPU, and dedicated MediaTek APU integrated into a single chip, delivering superior performance while also being extremely power efficient.
- Up to 4K60 resolution support with a multimedia decoding engine for HEVC, VP9, and the latest AV1 content.
- HDR10+ display support, enabling full array backlight local dimming with >2000 zones.
- Premium Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X surround sound support.
- The latest HDMI 2.1a and USB 3.0 interfaces, in addition to gigabit-class Wi-Fi 6 connectivity.
- With up to four far-field microphones, the chip provides whole room coverage for voice assistants with ultra-low power consumption (0.5W) on standby and ultra-fast, one-second resume for wake-up words.
The first MT9638-powered 4K Smart TVs are expected to go on sale during Q2 of 2021, so if you are in the market for a new TV right now it may be worth your while holding on a little while longer.
[MediaTek]
