Broadcom introduces Ultra HD SoC with VP9p60 decode support

Broadcom Leads Ultra HD Performance with Next-generation Chip

COLOGNE, Germany — ANGA COM — Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today announced its next-generation Ultra High Definition (Ultra HD) home gateway and set-top box (STB) system-on-chip (SoC) solution. The BCM7445S continues Broadcom’s leadership in Ultra HD technology by increasing 4K video decode efficiency for a 25 percent reduction in video bandwidth usage and the addition of VP9p60 decode support(1).

With this new offering, operators can introduce new Ultra HD features such as 60 frame per second content on YouTube, four HD picture-in-picture options and faster performance in graphics-rich user interfaces.

“Broadcom’s new offering anticipates operators’ need for an enhanced, multi-tasking Ultra HD home gateway that simultaneously delivers a variety of content formats,” said Rich Nelson, Broadcom Senior Vice President of Marketing, Broadband & Connectivity Group. “With a powerful quad-core ARM processor that provides quad transcode and flexible content format support, Broadcom’s new flagship Ultra HD device paves the way for content providers to offer even more high-quality content as demand for 4K increases.”

The BCM7445S builds on the success of Broadcom’s Ultra HD portfolio, which has been leveraged by more than a dozen operators and OEMs worldwide. At the same time as pay TV operators move towards Ultra HD services, consumer adoption of Ultra HD sets is expected to double, with 27.5 million Ultra HD sets expected to ship in 2015 and more than 100 million in the marketplace by 2018(2). Operators and streaming service providers across the globe are expected to pick up the pace this year in rolling out Ultra HD services to their subscriber base.

Broadcom’s BCM7445S can achieve more video transcoding through the integration of new proprietary video processing technology and on-chip hardware-based IP switching, ultimately making Ultra HD more affordable for operators to deploy. The new SoC also adds support for Google’s VP9 codec, which will allow users to stream 4K YouTube content to their set-top boxes and display to a TV. The VP9 codec provides up to 50 percent bitrate reduction for comparable quality as compared to the previous VP8 standard and enables a significant new source of Ultra HD content in this rapidly growing market.

Key Features of the BCM7445S

• Industry-leading quad-core Brahma15 21k DMIPS ARMv7 CPU with unique hardware sandboxing
• Industry’s only SoC with four 1080p30 real-time transcoders supporting full HD viewing on mobile device
• HEVC and VP9 compression that delivers resolution up to full Ultra HD 4096x2160p60
• Web domain security to protect critical core network functions from malware threats
• HDMI 2.0 transmit and receive with HDCP 2.2

Availability

Broadcom’s BCM7445S is currently sampling.

1. As compared to Broadcom’s previous generation Ultra HD system-on-a chip (SOC).
2. Strategy Analytics, March 2015.