Allwinner H3 is a Quad Core SoC for Sub $50 4K H.265 Media Players

Allwinner launched their H-series processors (Homlet) for home entertainment with Allwinner H8 octa-core processor, supporting HEVC up to 1080p, which will find its way into media players selling between $50 and $80. The company has now added Allwinner H3 quad core processor, selling for just $6, which will be available in $35 to $50 OTT TV box later this month, and include support for 4K UHD H.265/HEVC video playback.

Key features of Allwinner H3:

• CPU –  Quad core Cortex A7
• GPU – Mali-400MP2 up to 600 MHz
• Memory I/F
  • LPDDR2, LPDDR3, DDR3, DDR3L SDRAM
  • 8-bit SLC, MLC, TLC, EF NAND with 64-bit ECC
  • SD, eMMC, tSD, fSD, and efSD
• Video
  • Decoding – H.265/HEVC and H.264 up to 4K@30 fps, H.264 BP/MP/HP, VP8, MPEG1/2, MPEG4 SP/ASP GMC, H.263 including Sorenson Spark, WM9/VC1, JPEG/MJEPG up to 1080p60
  • Encoding – H.264 up to 1080p30
• Video Output – HDMI with HDCP, CEC, 3D function, CVBS, and dual independent display support.
• Camera – 8-bit YUV222 CMOS interface, CCIR656 protocol for PAL and NTSC, 5M pixel camera sensor
• Security – Trustzone, mainstream DRM solutions support, secure boot, secure storage, and firmware signature
• Integrated Peripherals:
  • Audio codec
  • 3x USB EHCI/OHCI, USB 2.0 DRD
  • 100M Ethernet PHY
  • CIR, UART, LRADC, SDIO

The company mentions that while the CSI camera supports up to 1080p30 video recording, USB camera are limited to  720p30. This processor will be found in OTT TV boxes that compete with Realtek RTD1195 media players, as both platforms feature low power ARM Cortex A7 cores, albeit dual core vs quad core, a slow Mali-400MP GPU, and support for 4K UHD video playback with the latest H.265 video codec. However, Allwinner H3 loses out to its competitor by lacking SATA, Gigabit, and USB 3.0 interfaces, so H3 based products might become cheaper media players, but they won’t have the NAS compatibilities of the Realtek processor.

The first TV boxes powered by Allwinner H3 processor are expected later this month.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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