Not many people know MediaTek offers chipsets that power not just smartphones, but several other devices in and around our homes. Hence, it isn’t surprising that the brand dominates the smart TV space as over two billion televisions are powered by MediaTek. And the chipsets from the silicon maker can be found at the core of some of the leading TV brands in the world. Last year, the brand launched the first-ever 7nm SoC for smart TVs intended for flagship 8KTVs with up to 120Hz refresh rates – MediaTek Pentonic 2000. This year, it has brought several of those capabilities in MediaTek Pentonic 1000, a flagship chipset for 4K 120Hz HDR displays and up to 4K 144Hz VRR for gaming monitors. Here’s an overview of what MediaTek’s latest can do.
Powerful hardware with a dedicated AI processor
The MediaTek Pentonic 1000 silicon features four Cortex-A73 cores running at 2.0GHz. The capable processor ensures lag-free navigation and quick app opening times, and is mated to ARM Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, which promises smooth graphics.
Then there’s the integrated MediaTek AI processing engine (APU), which enables the processing engines to work together more quickly and efficiently than in multi-chip alternatives. This allows for advanced AI-enhanced capabilities such as AI-Super Resolution 2.0, AI-Picture Quality Scene Recognition 2.0, and AI-Picture Quality Object Recognition 3.0.
The AI-Super Resolution 2.0 enables edge smoothing and detail reconstruction for crisp picture quality. On the other hand, the AI-Picture Quality Scene Recognition 2.0 technology automatically adjusts the picture quality by detecting the scene being played. Lastly, AI-Picture Quality Object Recognition 3.0 improves depth perception and offers rich picture quality enhancements.
Watch up to 8 views at once with MediaTek Intelligent View
The MediaTek Intelligent View harnesses the potential of the sharp 4K resolution by splitting it into up to 8 views at once. It can showcase an entire “display wall” of content in one view, unlike competing solutions that can only offer up to two views simultaneously.
With this cutting-edge technology, one may watch a TV show and make video calls to loved ones while concurrently streaming multiple views of a sporting event at home. Businesses can place it in the lounge to display firm stock values, live news feeds, etc., all of which are easy to control separately. In the office, it can also enhance conference calls and meetings by providing efficient space for virtual attendees.
The feature enables dynamic image quality adjustment for every view displayed. This is unlike typical digital TV SoCs that only offer picture quality adjustment for the main content view.
Thanks to the potent Pentonic 1000, there are several user experience enhancements, including the ability to keep audio and video active or unmuted when switching between the primary and sub-views. It also ensures that the video plays without interruption even when the different views are moved around the primary display instead of losing sync or going dark.
Promises an immersive viewing experience
MediaTek Pentonic 1000 comes with Precision Detail, a new addition to Dolby’s family of Advanced Imaging technologies made available through Dolby Vision IQ. The technology reveals impressive detail in bright and dark areas, allowing users to get more from Dolby Vision content.
Images on 4K smart TVs acquire a new dimension with astounding clarity thanks to the added texture and depth. The Precision Detail and MediaTek Intelligent View enable smart TVs to process multiple Dolby Vision windows together. It lets users simultaneously view various media sources in incredible detail in separate windows.
The Pentonic 1000 chip is also one of the first TV chipsets featuring H.266 media support with Versatile Video Coding (VVC). With the help of this new standard, content providers may increase the efficiency of their compression for better streaming and broadcasting. In addition to the support for the latest AV1 standard for streaming, the normal HEVC, VP9, and AVS3 standards are also supported. Simply put, the chip enables TV brands to create a single product for all markets.
VRR support for immersive gaming
When it comes to gaming, MediaTek Pentonic 1000 supports 144Hz Variable Refresh Rate (VRR). VRR refers to the ability to use a variable refresh rate on your monitor. It means that the monitor can dynamically increase or decrease its refresh rate depending on what you’re doing with your computer.
If you’re playing a video game, for example, and there are many fast-moving images on screen, the monitor may adjust its refresh rate to keep up with all those images and give you the best performance possible. However, if you’re browsing social media or typing up an email, it’s fine for the monitor to stay at 60Hz.
Wi-Fi 6E connectivity support
The MediaTek Pentonic 1000 SoC offers support for Wi-Fi 6/E wireless connections. With access to the 6GHz spectrum made possible by the new standard, wireless speeds, and latencies have significantly improved. It’s essential to get Wi-Fi 6-enabled TVs now so that you can be future-proof as more and more products become approved for the new standard.
As if that wasn’t enough, MediaTek’s Pentonic 1000 chip also includes an integrated HDMI 2.1 FRL 48Gbps support. Additionally, it has 4X USB connectivity for external media support.
Looking at the features above, you can tell that the next-gen smart TVs powered by this chipset will be revolutionary. If you have been holding out your television or gaming monitor purchase, wait until the first wave of MediaTek Pentonic 1000 TVs hit the market. According to MediaTek, Pentonic 1000-powered TVs will roll out by the third quarter of 2023.
