Wyplay chooses Sigma SMP8700 family for Frog by Wyplay

Sigma’s HEVC Decoding and ARM Processors Provide High Performance STB Platform for Wyplay’s Innovative Middleware

LAS VEGAS, NV — CES — Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM), a leading provider of System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions for home entertainment, connectivity and converging multimedia delivery, today announced a collaboration with leading European middleware vendor Wyplay. Together they have extended a porting effort on Sigma’s new ARM based STB (set top box) SoC product line. A proof of concept debuted in Amsterdam at IBC 2013. In Las Vegas at CES 2014 the middleware port is available at multiple performance tiers with Sigma’s new HEVC capable SoCs.

The Sigma SMP8700 series have a wealth of features that make it the ideal fit for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), STB manufacturers and service providers. The SMP875X family is the first to enable HEVC video decoding capability with the Main-10 profile allowing processing of up to 10bit color samples and will be demonstrated at CES. The SMP8700 series includes SOCs with multiple ARM A9 CPU configurations for 3000 or 6000 DMIPS of application processing. Similarly, SMP8700 series includes GPU options with multiple performance levels for new 3D user interfaces and over-the-top applications. The STB vendor thus has flexibility to combine the right pair of CPU and GPU to meet customer requirement at optimum platform BOM. Incorporating Sigma’s industry-proven expertise in multi-format Full-HD video decoding, VXP™ display processing, and field-proven AV software core, the SMP8700 family of SOCs is able to provide premium quality video experience. There are also multiple CAS solutions planned for this family including Verimatrix’s cardless Video Content Authority System (VCAS™).

Frog by Wyplay is an initiative aiming to free all players in the TV ecosystem from being locked into proprietary solutions. Thanks to Frog by Wyplay, the full source code of Wyplay’s innovative and flexible set-top box middleware and backend add-ons — already being deployed to more than 10 million subscribers at Canal+, Belgacom, SFR, and Vodafone — will be accessible free of charge for evaluation and development purposes.

Frog by Wyplay is based on the philosophy that traditional “black-box” models prevent software reuse, restrict partnerships, stop independent innovation, and cause development resource bottlenecks that lead to increased costs and delays in the introduction of new devices and services.

Mustafa Ozgen, vice president and general manager home multimedia for Sigma Designs, said: “We are pleased to have partnered with Wyplay and their Frog initiative to open their code base to operators and partners to achieve fast time to market. We are also glad that our joint offering spans SoC performance tiers and HEVC decoding capability. Considering both companies’ strength in HTML5, we believe that we will be able to quickly address our mutual customers in a variety of geographic locations.”

“We are excited about our collaboration with Sigma Designs. Their SDK has been easy to work with and to allow portability across multiple SoCs in their ARM product line,” said Wyplay CEO Jacques Bourgninaud. “We are convinced that their HD HEVC chipset family is perfectly suited to current customer needs.”

A demonstration of the Sigma Designs/Wyplay solution can be seen at CES 2014 January 7-10 in Las Vegas Hotel Suite 2990.

Frog By Wyplay will be officially launched at the CES Las Vegas tradeshow in January 2014.