There have been several Cortex A53 processors announced or released on the market such as Rockchip RK3368, Allwinner A64, or Amlogic S905, but in many cases I can read comments complaining about the lack of high speed interface, incomplete code support, or a weak GPU. Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 offers better features than its competitor, as beside four Cortex A53 cores, it includes a Mali-720 GPU, supports HDMI 2.0 output up to 4K at 60 HZ, 10-bit HEVC / H.265 and VP9 video decoding at 3840×2160 resolution at 60 fps, and integrates SATA and USB 3.0 interfaces.
Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 key features and specifications:
- CPU – Quad core Cortex A53 processor (15K DMIPS)
- GPU – ARM Mali-T720 supporting OpenGL ES 3.1/2.0, OpenVG1.1, EGL, and Imprex 2.0 PQ engine
- Memory I/F – DDR3 or DDR4
- Video Engine (VPU)
- Codecs – HEVC, H.264, VP9, VC1, MPEG2
- Decoder – 10-bit up to 4Kp60
- Encoder – H.264 @ 1080p30 or dual 720p30
- HiVXE 2.0 video engine supporting 4Kp60 H.265 and VP9 decoding, 1080p PiP and video transcoding
- Dolby Vision & HDR10 for “best-in-class video quality experience”
- Peripherals:
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0a TX with HDCP 2.2
- Connectivity – Dual Gigabit Ethernet
- USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 2.0 port
- Storage – SATA and 2x SDIO
- Transport Stream – 4x TS In + 2x TS In or Out with support for Full-band Capture (FBC) tuner
- Expansion – PCIe
- Security – Advanced DRM and CAS, Trustzone, Hardware based video watermarking
The company can provide Android 5.x and Linux SDK for the processor. Hi3798C V200 will target Ultra HD set-top boxes (STBs) for the DVB, IPTV, and OTT markets, and Hisilicon claims it is the “first global Ultra HD STB chipset solution to support Dolby Vision high-dynamic-range (HDR) technology.”
I could not find any details about availability of the processor, nor when TV box based on the solution are to be expected.
Thanks to Ovi for the tip.
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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so what’s difference between this and Intel J1900? much cheaper?
Looks like Cloud Media are selling a “Gecko” box using the Hi3798M chip for $89.
More info here: http://www.cloudmedia.com/products/open-hour/open-hour-gecko
Hi,bit SATA is native or usb->SATA?
Support multiport?
@Arete There’s another image on this article that suggests that SATA might be native.
This should have the best video quality.
Hi3798M was good too. They no longer mention 3D and BD-ISO, or I haven’t seen it?
…Linux SDK for the processor… still same story, no support for GPU …
better to buy j1900
@newbie
My thoughts exactly… for under $100 you can get a nice Intel SOC which is also 64 bit and quite decent for the task … you can then install Android or Linux or Windows or whatever and also get piece of mind in knowing you’ll be able to update your OS even when the vendor doesn’t care anymore.
@Fan
These are two different beasts. J1900 will be significantly faster (CPU performance), but the Hisilicon processor support 4K @ 60Hz. If you want to achieve this in the x86 world, you probably need to buy a $200+ graphics cards.
This is only 4K @ 60Hz for video playback, Hisilicon GPU will not have the performance to decently handle a 4K resolution user interface, and especially games.
@Arete
Features about processors are always native. So if they list SATA, you can be pretty sure the IP in the chip supports it, unless the SoC vendor marketing team does something really funny…
For boards and products, you always need to check the details, as any platform with USB can implement SATA, GIgabit Ethernet, and so on.
The soc was presented at IBC where I was shooting the photos.
It was strange that except hisilicon ,Marvell , Intel and AMD no other SoC arm or x86 was represented.
Another strange stuff from IBC exhibition was no dream media , no marusys and no Amiko presence.
Everyone is and it was crazy about OTT and IPTV.
I was representing as exhibitor the TBS Chinese company there.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
Yeah I guess that’s true but I don’t really give a crap about 4K and even less than that if it’s only for video playback … if it could handle the whole UI at 4K then it would have been mildly interesting but as such it’s totally not ( not to me at least ).
4K?
1080P is adequate for general purpose usages. So J1900 is ready to go for every point of view. Availability, Performance, Price, OS supported.
We’re hisilicon boxes experts 🙂
Hisilicon is really the best android media player .this new chipset is great.
BTW,anyone interested in hisilicon can visit us in HK show airport side at booth 6M36! 🙂
@iridiumsat
If they only should make a decent pico-itx board at a reasonable price, with some sata ports and everything else to make a small htpc , including hdmi cec. The smallest j1900 board I can find is a thin mini-itx with dc connector. Still to big to my likening.
@roel
Yeah it seems they’re all mini-itx but this was more about TV boxes I suppose. There’s plenty of cheap under $100 Intel ones and that’s what I’d go for if I had a choice …
ARM solutions are OK but you can expect to be left with no support, no bugfixing and all that stuff…. Nothing you can do about since you depend on the vendor … I hate that.
previus Soc Hi3798 V100 have usb 2->SATA (20-30 MB/s)
@Marius Cirsta
Indeed there are some tv-boxes, but I need a solution with a DVD-drive to replace my old XBOX with xbmc. The only one I found was a shuttle barebone pc, but it seems you have to put it in vertical position. Not so good with small children.
I have some arm-boards, but like you said: poor linux support.
@Roel
Maybe get a USB DVD drive and put it under the Intel TV box. Or you can search on Ali for “fanless Intel” and you’ll find some fancy stuff, including i3s , i5s … they seem pretty small.
Btw I’ve seen an fanless Core i5 5257u which can do full 4K ( I think UI included ) for around $300 barebones …. The price is certainly in another category but damn, that’s one hell of a miniPC 😀
@Marius Cirsta
It’s how I do it now with my rpi, but my wife doesn’t like it…
I have some old NEXCOM cases, these are nice sturdy cases and I wanted to make a htpc/media server with one of these. As I want it to be running 24/24, it would be nice it’s power efficient. A mini-itx should fit, but with a hardrive and dvd-player there only will be little room left and I’m scared for overheating. I would give it a nice finish with those powder coat paint as sold by http://www.electrostaticmagic.co.uk/pages/powders to give it a 50’s look.
@Roel
It may not be the most powerful or cost efficient device, but if you need a compact HTPC with DVD (actually blu-ray), you may want to have a look at ezeecube.
http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/06/05/ezeecube-is-a-modular-xbmc-media-hub-with-up-to-9tb-storage-crowdfunding/
http://ezeecube.tv
.
was relesed Data Sheet: http://www.hisilicon.com/engdownload/digital/2015/Hi3798C%20V200.rar
First device using this will be announced at CES 2016. As expected, Himedia will be the one to launch it.
other box
http://armdevices.net/2016/01/11/uyesee-s100-with-hdr-4k-on-hisilicon-64bit-hi3798c-v200-quad-core-arm-cortex-a53/
uyesee ? …never heard before
Uyesee is the company who makes the soundmate WM201: http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/02/20/soundmate-wm201-wi-fi-music-streamer-ezmusic-review/
They should make a dev-board or router similar to the bpi-r1 with this soc, as long as they decent provide linux support of course, not such crappy stuff as allwinner does.
Looks like nice Soc but not gonna take market share if can not compete in price.
1. Himedia Q10Pro unpacking 1 (4K@60fps HEVC@10bit Settop)
http://muritzy.tistory.com/1143
2. Himedia Q10Pro unpacking 2 (4K@60fps HEVC@10bit Settop)
http://muritzy.tistory.com/1144
@EddyLab
nice review , do you test h.265 10 bit demo file ?
@massimo
Yes. I did that HEVC@10bit of terrestrial broadcasting recording of korea,
also, satellite broadcasting demo file of japan (スカパ4K)
and i tried test of compare with Nvidia Android TV settop.
http://muritzy.tistory.com/1123
@EddyLab
result? Q10 pro vs shield?
Hello, Can someone tell me how much GPU “ARM-T720” is there on this processor ? It’s a Quad (4) ARM Cortex 53 processor but there is NO mention on number of GPU … Like … it’s a single GPU unit ? In s812, there was 8 GPU, the s905 is only equiped with 5 GPU (ARM Mali T-450) … and this one ? Even if it’s 200 or 300 % better then T-450, if there only one … it’s NOT more powerfull then other processor (like s812). The speed of a gpu is important but the number of it on… Read more »
hi please send me datasheet cpu hi3798cv200