Realtek introduces soc for 4k set-top boxes with av1 decoding

Realtek has announced a new 4k set-top box soc with hardware support for the av1 video codec. That is the successor to vp9. An actual release of this soc in devices seems imminent.

Realtek calls the soc the RTD1311 and it contains a ‘powerful ARM CPU’. Hardware support for av1 makes playing this content more efficient, almost twice as efficient as vp9. In addition, streaming services do not have to pay royalties on av1 streams.

The RTD1311 also has a 1080p HEVC encoder and supports ‘all versions of HDR’. As far as connections are concerned, there is support for HDMI 2.1, USB 3.0, PCI-e and WiFi. The chip also supports far-field voice recognition, for easier voice control, and there is a dvb-c demodulator available.

According to slides published by Golem.de, the first devices with hardware support for av1 will hit the market in 2020. Prices for this are not yet known.