California-based semiconductor company Amlogic used the Broadcast Asia show to debut its S905X chip-set with built-in support for Netflix, and designed for use on Android-based set-top boxes.

One clear advantage, says the company, is that the innovative design uses only 1GB DDR memory (double data rate) and compared to 2GB or more currently in use by most other UHD solutions on the market. This reduced memory usage will substantially lower the production cost and enable increased market penetration of 4K set-top boxes worldwide, says the company.

“This is a groundbreaking innovation that shows why Amlogic is the leader in chipsets for consumer devices that couple the latest features with market-friendly pricing. The Amlogic S905X 1GB DDR STB reference design embodies efficiency and cost savings,” said James Xie, vice president of corporate business strategy for Amlogic. “This gives our operator customers the best possible video distribution solution to drive the new era of Netflix 4K video content distribution through set-top boxes.”

Amlogic says its system-on-a-chip S905X supports a variety of 4K video distribution devices, including OTT STBs and HDMI dongles. The SoC is built around four-core ARM Cortex processors and powerful high-speed GPUs designed to handle complex UI and content. Additionally, S905X offers the AVE-10 video engine to accelerate video codec processing. The video engine decodes 4K2K resolution video in both HEVC and VP9 formats at a full 60 frames per second, delivering a seamless viewing experience. Finally, it features a high-security grade that enables multiple DRM solutions, such as Ultra Verimatrix, Widevine L1/L3 and Playready SL3000.

As well as its Santa Clara, California HQ, Amlogic has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Taipei, and Hong Kong and has China as a key market.

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