【導讀】聯(lián)發(fā)科技放話了，客廳多屏幕、DIAL、 4Kx2K、HTML5和NFC等八個熱門特點將主導今年數(shù)字電視設計。如果你想了解2013年全球電視發(fā)展趨勢，只需看看聯(lián)發(fā)科技的打算就全明白了。當今消費電子產(chǎn)業(yè)龍頭不再是索尼和松下，而是臺灣的消費芯片廠商聯(lián)發(fā)科技。

摘要：  聯(lián)發(fā)科技放話了，客廳多屏幕、DIAL、 4Kx2K、HTML5和NFC等八個熱門特點將主導今年數(shù)字電視設計。如果你想了解2013年全球電視發(fā)展趨勢，只需看看聯(lián)發(fā)科技的打算就全明白了。當今消費電子產(chǎn)業(yè)龍頭不再是索尼和松下，而是臺灣的消費芯片廠商聯(lián)發(fā)科技。

關鍵字：  聯(lián)發(fā)科技，  數(shù)字電視，  發(fā)展趨勢

聯(lián)發(fā)科技放話了，客廳多屏幕、DIAL、 4Kx2K、HTML5和NFC等八個熱門特點將主導今年數(shù)字電視設計。如果你想了解2013年全球電視發(fā)展趨勢，只需看看聯(lián)發(fā)科技的打算就全明白了。當今消費電子產(chǎn)業(yè)龍頭不再是索尼和松下，而是臺灣的消費芯片廠商聯(lián)發(fā)科技。

聯(lián)發(fā)科技背靠包括亞洲手機與電視OEM/ODM在內(nèi)的龐大客戶群，目前地位極高：除了三星，可能還沒有一家公司能夠可靠地預言，手機上面開發(fā)出來的東西將如何決定新一代數(shù)字電視必須增加哪些特點與功能。

在最近舉行的國際消費電子展(CES)期間，《EE Times》采訪了聯(lián)發(fā)科技總經(jīng)理謝清江，并在該公司的private suite看到了一些展示。

聯(lián)發(fā)科技確定與推崇的八個熱門特點，可能在2013年驅動全球消費系統(tǒng)設計。這些特點包括：客廳多屏幕，DIAL，4Kx2K，HTML5，近場通訊(NFC)，快速啟動，四核/更高GPU和HEVC (H.265)。

聯(lián)發(fā)科技總經(jīng)理謝清江出席最近舉行的消費電子展

在接受采訪時，謝清江強調(diào)HEVC編解碼器將迅速成為智能手機、平板電腦與電視中的關鍵要素。他還表示，新興的超高清標準4Kx2K已然是“品牌客戶非常重要的營銷工具”。

謝清江還指出，智能電視仍在發(fā)展進化，要求OEM與ODM通過多種方式使電視智能化。他說，其中包括智能電視dongle、智能電視機頂盒、基于Linux的智能電視以及全面支持HTML 5。

在眾多新特點中，聯(lián)發(fā)科技非常熱衷并極力推動的是客廳多屏幕。

聯(lián)發(fā)科技聲稱在業(yè)內(nèi)率先整合Miracast認證的Wi-Fi與NFC，使智能電視與最新型聯(lián)發(fā)科技四核智能手機平臺實現(xiàn)無縫連接。據(jù)聯(lián)發(fā)科技：“只需利用這個裝置，就可能以無線方式把高清視頻與其它多媒體內(nèi)容從手機等設備發(fā)送到大屏幕高清電視，無需通過連接點進行連接?！?/P>

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但聯(lián)發(fā)科技想更進一步。該公司認為，讓多屏幕客廳等流行起來的王牌在于DIAL，這是一種新興的開放協(xié)議。Netflix和YouTube一直在悄悄開發(fā)DIAL。

DIAL代表“發(fā)現(xiàn)與啟動”，可以在智能手機上面實現(xiàn)第二屏幕應用。該技術可以發(fā)現(xiàn)同一個網(wǎng)絡上支持DIAL的第一屏幕設備(例如智能電視)，并在該設備上面啟動應用，不需要手動啟動，也不需要用戶進行配對工作。

謝清江稱DIAL是“殺手應用”，可以把多屏幕應用引入客廳。

需要說明的是，DIAL的優(yōu)點不只是能把智能手機或平板電腦上面顯示的內(nèi)容顯示在大屏幕電視上面，它的價值在于彌補了第一個與第二個屏幕之間的空隙。

據(jù)DIAL的網(wǎng)站，當你在移動應用上發(fā)現(xiàn)一個視頻并想把它顯示在連網(wǎng)電視上時，有無DIAL的用戶體驗是不一樣的。

如果沒有DIAL

1. 使用普通遙控打開電視上的應用菜單

2. 找到相應的電視應用

3. 啟動該電視應用

4. 在電視應用上轉向配對的屏幕

5. 啟動并轉向移動應用中的配對屏幕

6. 在移動應用中輸入9位密碼

7. 在移動應用中按下“在電視上播放“按鍵

如果有DIAL

1. 啟動移動應用

2. 在移動應用中按下“在電視上播放“按鍵

概括來說，有了DIAL，手機上的Netflix應用就能自動發(fā)現(xiàn)帶有一個Netflix應用的設備可以連接到電視。然后它啟動那個應用，立即實現(xiàn)連接。

縮短啟動時間

當然，DIAL的設想類似于蘋果的AirPlay。在蘋果AirPlay中，可以無縫地發(fā)現(xiàn)iOS內(nèi)容并將其顯示在蘋果電視上。蘋果這方面在蘋果開發(fā)的設備上面做得不錯，而DIAL則是為了幫助非iOS設備供應商——實際上是所有其它廠商，在任何支持DIAL的智能電視、智能手機和其它連網(wǎng)設備上面實現(xiàn)那種無縫連接。

2013年聯(lián)發(fā)科技力推的其它新電視特點包括加快安卓電視啟動速度。

據(jù)聯(lián)發(fā)科技的工程師，現(xiàn)在的安卓電視一般需要25秒啟動。聯(lián)發(fā)科技目前向電視廠商提供兩各新的解決方案：“熱啟動”與“冷啟動”。冷啟動利用安卓代碼的軟件優(yōu)化，啟動時間可以縮短到12秒。在熱啟動方式下，在DRAM中創(chuàng)造一種待機的“暫停”狀態(tài)，啟動時間可以大幅縮短到2秒。

懷疑者仍在爭論超高清電視能否普及(主要是因為電視價格較高，而且缺乏4K x 2K內(nèi)容)，謝清江對這個問題持比較實際的看法。

聯(lián)發(fā)科技認為，超高清電視的出現(xiàn)是推銷其可提供4K x 2K帖速率轉換的SoC的機會。謝清江也承認，中國OEM與ODM廠商為了營銷目的而鼓吹4K x 2K電視，對其懷有過強的期望。另外，他預測“4K x 2K將很快出現(xiàn)”，提及日前的CES上宣布的Netflix-三星超高清電視合作。

謝清江解釋道，CPU/GPU性能越來越強——已在智能手機領域得到充分證明，也開始日益用于智能電視之中。智能電視渴望運行更多的應用程序和提供更好的用戶界面。盡管謝清江在接受采訪時提到ARM的GPU正在變得更好，但他的公司目前似乎堅持使用Imagination Technologies公司的GPU技術。Imagination Technologies公司在1月中旬披露，與聯(lián)發(fā)科技簽署了一份新的許可協(xié)議，針對前者的PowerVR SGX Series5XT圖形處理器家族的多核產(chǎn)品。聯(lián)發(fā)科技據(jù)說將在面向數(shù)字電視市場的SoC器件中采用該技術。[!--empirenews.page--]

MediaTek sets 2013 digital TV design agenda

Junko Yoshida

Multi-screens in a living room， DIAL， 4K x 2K， HTML5， NFC and others are part of the eight hot features altering the DTV designs this year， identified by Mediak. MADISON， Wis.– If you want to know the global TV trends in 2013， look no further than what MediaTek has up its sleeve. The bellwether of the consumer electronics industry today is no longer either Sony or Panasonic. That title now belongs to the Taiwan-based consumer chip company.

MediaTek， backed up by a large customer base including both handset and TV OEMs/ODMs throughout Asia， is today in a rare position: other than Samsung， perhaps no other company is positioned to speak authoritatively on how things developed in handsets will dictate features and functions that must go into a new generation of digital TVs.

EE Times met with MediaTek President Ching-Jiang Hsieh and saw some of the demonstrations at the company’s private suite during the recent International Consumer Electronics Show.

Eight hot features， identified and pitched by MediaTek， are likely to drive global consumer system designs in 2013. They include: multi-screens in the living room， DIAL， 4K x 2K， HTML5， Near Field Communications (NFC)， fast boot time， quad-core/higher GPU and HEVC (H.265).

MediaTek President C.J. Hsieh at the company's private suite during the recent CES.

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During the interview， Hsieh stressed how quickly the HEVC codec will become a critical element in smartphones， tablets and TVs. He also said that 4K x 2K--an emerging ultra-high resolution standard--is already a “very important marketing tool for branded customers.

Hsieh also laid out that smart TV is still evolving， requiring OEMs and ODMs to follow multiple routes to get there. These include a smart TV dongle， a smart TV set-top， Linux-based smart TV and fundamental support for HTML 5， he said.

Among the plethora of new features， one area MediaTek is very keen on pushing is the multi-screen scenario in the living room.

MediaTek claimed an industry’s first by integrating Miracast-certified Wi-Fi display technology with NFC to seamlessly connect a smart TV with the latest MediaTek quad-core smartphone platform. “With a simple tap of the device， it is possible to wirelessly stream HD quality video and other multimedia content from mobile and other devices onto big screen HDTVs without connecting through an access point，” according to the company.

DIAL: 'Killer app'

MediaTek， however， wants to go a step further. The company believes the ace in the hole in popularizing such a multi-screen scenario rests on DIAL， an emerging open protocol that’s been quietly developed by Netflix and YouTube.

DIAL， which stands for “discovery and launch，” enables second-screen apps on smartphones. The technology can discover DIAL-ready first-screen devices (i.e. smart TVs) in the same network and launch apps on them--without requiring a manual launch or pairing process by the user.

Hsieh called DIAL a “killer app” to bring multi-screen usage to a living room.

To be clear， DIAL does a lot more than mirroring content displayed on one’s smartphone or tablet to a large-screen TV. Its virtue is in filling in the gap between the first and second screens.

According to DIAL’s website， the group describes differences in a user experience--with or without DIAL--when you discover a video on your mobile app and want to play it on your connected TV.

Without DIAL

1. Launch the apps menu on your TV with the normal remote control

2. Navigate to the TV app

3. Launch the TV app

4. Navigate to the pairing screen on TV app

5. Launch and navigate to the pairing screen on Mobile app

6. Input 9-digit pin on Mobile app.

7. Tap the Play on TV button on the Mobile app

With DIAL

1. Launch the Mobile app

2. Tap the Play on TV button on the mobile app

In sum， with DIAL， the Netflix app on your phone， for example， will automatically discover that there is a device with a Netflix app connected to your TV. It fires up that app， making the magical connection just happen.

Faster boot time

The idea of DIAL is， of course， similar to Apple’s AirPlay， in which iOS content is seamlessly discovered and displayed on Apple TV. While Apple does this well among Apple-developed devices， DIAL is designed to help non-iOS device vendors--practically everyone else on earth--make that seamless connection possible on any DIAL-supported smart TVs， smartphones and other connected devices.

Other features promoted by MediaTek for new TVs in 2013 include faster boot time for Android TVs.

In general， it takes 25 seconds for today’s Android TV to boot up， according to MediaTek engineers. MediaTek is now offering TV vendors two new solutions--“warm boot” and “cold boot.” Under MediaTek’s cold boot feature， which leverages the software optimization of Android code， the boot up time becomes 12 seconds. Meanwhile， by creating a standby “suspend” mode in DRAM for MediaTek’s warm boot solution， the boot-up time will see a dramatic reduction to two seconds， according to the company.[!--empirenews.page--]

While skeptics continue to debate the proliferation of ultra high-definition TVs (largely because of the high prices for TV sets and the lack of 4K x 2K content availability)， Hsieh holds a much more pragmatic view on the issue.

MediaTek sees the emergence of UHDTV as an opportunity to push its SoCs that offer 4K x 2K frame rate conversions. Hsieh also recognizes an unmistakably strong desire among OEMs and ODMs in China to tout 4K x 2K TVs， as a part of their marketing programs. Further， Hsieh， citing the Netflix-Samsung UHDTV collaboration at the recent CES， predicted that “4K x 2K will happen very soon.”

The proliferation of higher CPU/GPU power--already well evidenced in smartphones--is also fast becoming a reality for smart TVs which crave to run more and more apps and better user interface， Hsieh explained. Although Hsieh mentioned during the interview that ARM’s GPU is getting better， his company appears to be sticking to Imagination Technologies’ GPU technologies for the time being. Imagination disclosed in middle of January that it signed a new license agreement with MediaTek for a multi-core member of Imagination's PowerVR SGX Series5XT graphics processor family. MediaTek is said to deploy the technology in SoC devices targeting the digital TV market.