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Pioneer picks Sigma SoC for Blu-ray players
The friend of my enemy's enemy is my friend's third cousin? Or something like that anyway, is what ran through my head when I saw this morning that Pioneer is utilizing Sigma Designs System-on-chip SMP8634 processor in their Blu-ray players. If you remember, this is the same processor Microsoft is using in their IPTV set top boxes. The chip supports various interfaces (HDMI, USB) and can decode next generation video codecs like VC-1 and h.264, making it a great choice for the job.
That just illustrates the flexibility of Sigma's media processor, and also how convoluted these technology "wars" can be as sometimes you will have competing and collaborative deals between the same companies, even Sony and Toshiba work together on certain things.
