[Lord_Kiron]

I had this ideas for some time now but release of the Doom9 "Codec shoot-out 2004" ( http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/codecs-104-1.htm ) just had confirmed it :

- KiSS and entire industry once again building "old" new generation of players!

Why I think so?
Well, let me explain; what we as user expect and can get from DP-6xx and other coming Sigma EM8620L based players?

- First of all QPel , not something new others (MTK, Zoran) already can play it, it's more overcoming of old limitation then feature.

- Another thing High-Def resolutions, this IS the only real advancement, however it's impact will be limited because higher res. encodings take more space so they harder to share. Also there are not that much Hi-Def sources - all DVDs are so called "standard resolution" now, HD-DVDs and Blue-Ray are not released yet and the only source of Hi-Def video is digital TV that increases it's presents but still not that common.
So this means we will use this feature but in a year or so, currently it's just a "safety warranty" in case you somehow get one Hi-Def encode.

- WMV ... nice addition, but WMV files are rare (once again good to have one more standard supported but this is not mainstream use standard) , the only real usage for it is video streaming .
But there we will have to wait and see how well it will work with all this bandwidth , server load and other problems.
There is (ore will be) of cause an option to buy movies thru net but I doubt many will like it at first , not while free, quality movies widely available on BitTorent and eDonkey network.
Of cause it's question of price too, with reasonable prices people will buy movies but knowing movie industry I doubt it will ever be "reasonable price" .
Anyway even if it develops it will take another year or two so buying player just for this (buying movies from net) now is a waist of money and a good toy to show your friends but nothing more.

So what's missing?
Three things:
- HD-DVD playback
- Blue Ray disks playback
- Nero AVC codec playback.
(also I do not know what Nero Digital support planned in DP-6xx but based on it's specs probably "Standard Profile" while I would expect from Hi-Def player at least "Cinema Profile" or better "High Definition TV Profile" - http://www.nerodigital.com/eng/Trailers.html but I don't think it's possible because EM8620L can't do 3-point GMC)

And no KiSS DP-6xx or any other Sigma EM8620L based player will be able to do it. Sigma intend to build new chips for them.

Why ? - because chances are that very, very soon majority of encoders will switch to Nero because it's support for chapters , built in subtitles, angles and multiply sound streams . And Nero AVS codec is VERY good both in compression and quality .


What I have forgotten? - Well new "DivX 6" has to come out somewhere soon we will see that too.

So what's the conclusion? - Very simple, new generation of MPEG4 DVD players we waiting for well be already "old" on arrival once again.
It does not mean it will be a bad players, but it does mean that not going to be players to last , they will require replacement after a year or so and that's surely not good

[qspock]

Don't be sad, you haven't bought it yet have you?

I certainly won't, not until they release a decent DP-500 firmware.
So ...I won't!
May Santa bring us a bug free kiss player and make everyone healthy and rich!

[Lord_Kiron]

KiSS is not an issue , at least only partly an issue . I am coserned with entire state of the industry.
As the KiSS (or any other company in mpeg4 market) concern it would be a smart move not to build too much on EM8620L line as a main product but push on Sigma (or any other chipset manufacturer) to make chipset that HD-DVD and Blue-Ray compatible , prefferably Nero Digital "High Definition TV Profile"compatible and can play AVS encodings.
And as soon as it arrives start to build player on it.
KiSS in this area in best position because they have close contacts with Sigma.

[SvenHee]

We are trying to see a working sample with EM8620L for 6 months, but noown can deliver. So industry is not "sleeping" - the platform still is not available for mass production.
And the second point is that most customers want to have cheap DVD players with a lot of features, and a EM8620L device will cost at least twice the price of a mid class MTK based player (like Xoro HSD 400pro), even if no HDD is included.

PS: We will ship NERO DIGITAL enabled hardware within the next 8 weeks.

Best regards,

[forza]

Of course they can only build players with the available chips...
(from Mediatek, Sigma,..)

[Lord_Kiron]

SvenHee , about EM8620L based player please see this link : http://hdsource.highlydef.com/2004/1...-2-part-1.html
Also KiSS going to show DP-600 on CES - here is your chance to see it

Also may be your customers want cheap player but I want video quality and Sigma provides such, otherwise I would end up using HTPC and this would resolve all my codec/standards/container problems.
Also your players does not have network.

About your new player , please tell us more , like model name , chip used (probably Zoran Vaddis 7, right ?) and of cause price .