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Qualcomm cans its 4K smart TV chip while everyone's busy watching House of Cards
Remember that awesome Smart TV processor Qualcomm trotted out for CES? It looks like it won't be making its way to your living room after all. The company quietly announced the death of the Snapdragon 802 this week, stating that "the overall demand for processors uniquely designed for smart TVs has proven to be smaller than anticipated." It's a shame, too -- that quad-core chip was specifically designed to push 4K content to your living room with a robust app experience, complete with multitasking support. Considering how many Android sets have hit the market in the last few years, we're left to wonder: is there really a dearth of demand, or is Qualcomm struggling to find a way to market its new silicon?
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 802 processor is a 4K powerhouse for your TV
With 4K TVs (and content, hopefully) promising to be one of CES 2014's biggest trends, it makes sense that Qualcomm would introduce a processor tailored to handle heavy-duty streaming. The new Snapdragon 802 is just that: a TV-specific quad-core SoC that shares many features with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 and its "Ultra HD" 805 for mobile video. According to Qualcomm's VP of Marketing Tim McDonough, the Snapdragon 802 brings the best of smartphones to your smart TV. So, in addition to powering 4K content on your living-room set, the processor will enable a much-improved app experience (read: programs that run at an actually usable pace) on your big screen. Of course, it can also handle multitasking, from browsing online while streaming a movie to simultaneously playing up to four HD videos on one TV. And thanks to Hollywood Quality Video, a video-processing engine, 1080p content can be upconverted to a level "approaching Ultra HD." As for where the processor itself will live, that's up to the OEMs. The Snapdragon 802 can be built into both TVs and set-top boxes. The processor won't turn up in devices until late 2014, but we could have a few demoes in store for us at CES this week. If you're looking for more nitty-gritty details, head past the break for some additional specs.
