TiVo will show off its new Broadcam-powered 4K set-top box this week at IBC

By Alex Tretbar September 11, 2014

tivo unveil 4k set top boxes black white — Image used with permission by copyright holder

While still extremely under-represented, 4K content is coming, both through standard TV services like cable, as well as over an increasingly growing number of avenues on the Web. TiVo, for one, appears to be ready for the shift. Broadcom, an Irvine, CA.-based corporation that specializes in semiconductor solutions, today announced it will help to power TiVo’s yet-to-be-released Ultra HD set-top box.

In fact, TiVo and Broadcom will show off their joint foray into 4K content distribution this week, September 12-16, at IBC 2014 (International Broadcasting Convention) in Amsterdam.

Related: Forget single episodes, TiVo Mega can record entire channels with its 24TB drive

In a nutshell, Broadcom will be lending its expertise to ensure TiVo’s upcoming set-top boxes will have the processing power necessary to seamlessly crank out the bandwidth-intensive 4K content, while still providing the staple functionality and ease-of-use that’s become synonymous with the TiVo brand.

To assist TiVo with 4K content delivery, both in linear form, such as the forthcoming 4K broadcasts from pay-TV services, and streamed from the Web, Broadcam is loading TiVo’s new boxes with its powerful flagship video decoder system-on-a-chip, the BCM7445. Broadcom’s chip, which the corporation refers to as “the world’s first Ultra High Definition Television video decoder solution on the market,” will provide the set-top boxes with the standard high-efficiency video codec (HEVC) compression, which allows for the highest quality 60 frame-per-second transmission, and 10-bit color standard.

Broadcom made a similar announcement yesterday when it revealed that it will be integrating its BCM7252 system-on-a-chip into the German telecommunications company Vodafone‘s upcoming set-top boxes, which are set to ship during the first half of 2015.

It’s still unclear when TiVo plans to begin shipping its 4K-ready set-top boxes, but the company appears to have readied its flagship 4K device for deployment as soon as multi-system operators like Comcast, and others get up to speed.

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Alex Tretbar, audio/video intern, is a writer, editor, musician, gamer and sci-fi nerd raised on EverQuest and Magic: The…

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