HD Media Player Chipsets
This page gives some background to the history of Media Player chipsets and lists the key players associated with each.
The first chipset to be capable of decoding 1080p full-HD video was the 863x, clocked at 300mhz, from a company called Sigma Designs. The Sigma 863x spawned a whole series of Media Players from early 2008 onwards. It was these players that kick-started the Media Player revolution. Manufacturers released machines with modified versions of the original Sigma firmware, so the Sigma 863x machines are not identical. There are differences in all areas, from user interface to marginal decoding performance. Ultimate performance will always be a combination of hardware and software.
The Sigma 863x is now being superseded by newer chipsets, aimed squarely at the growing Media Player market. Limitations of the Sigma 8635 such as slow user interface, limited DTS support, and just general lack of power are being addressed in a new generation of chips released in 2009.
The Realtek 1283 / 1073 chipset range appeared in mid 2009 and is clocked between the old Sigma 863x and the newer Sigma 864x/865x. The Realteks use one CPU, clocked at 400mhz. A flood of cheap Realtek based Media Players have arrived through 2009. These have included the 1073 based ACRyan PlayOn, ASUS O!Play, Mvix Ultio, and the 1283 based Xtreamer, amongst many others. The 1073 is simply the 1283 with some DTV functions stripped out, they are otherwise the same chip providing the same performance in a Media Player. The only hardware performance difference amongst the Realte
