Motherboard360
18th November 2011, 08:21 PM
Sigma vs Realtek for Dummies (HD Player Chipset)
http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr235/vizerx/sigmavsrealtekfordummies.gif
There's no doubt Realtek and Sigma can reach the same levels
of functionality if they want to. They both have potential and they both
have themselves in their way to make progress. The difference is only in how they do stuff and how fast given the differences in chipset performance. Now older Sigma SMP8634 players run at 300MHz, the Realtek RTK1073 and RTK1283 run at 400MHz while the Xtreamer version of the RTK1283 runs at 450MHz, over clocked. Don't be mislead by people comparing these... Realtek is a new gen chip and should be compared against the Sigma SMP864x which runs at 667MHz. Now that's a difference, but even so, it means nothing really unless we were talking about 1.6GHz processor speed that will come eventually... Now faster chips neither means faster operations if comparing the two players. We have reasonably the same results where Realtek killed it's own advantage of processing power by "pre-loading" every movie you select making it damn slow and Sigma, well, in some cases like NMT based on HTML can be slow too.
I believe the fastest and sleekest menu system is build on the TViX, but tastes vary. Most Realtek players use a preview window that cuts the screen in half and only show a list of a poor 7 titles on screen. Does not sound HD really to me where an additional problem is that title length is limited by this too due to the preview window. Xtreamer has the ability to hide this window completely and shows more titles on screen... That's what I mean by saying to get rid of Realtek SDK limitations and default interface.
Advanced users:
Serious media users today will still pick the TViX, HDI BD Prime or NMT's
over Realtek available players. This is because they cannot live without certain abilities featured on these were Realtek players today still lacks support thereof. To name but a few, Blu-ray on TViX, 24p on these units, internal and external subtitles on MKV, better trick play (FF/RW, ZOOM, GoTo etc...). These are things that make life easier to handle movies during watching them. Last but not least, NFS is crucial for network performance on heavy files and the SMB performance or way of handling the videos seems to be better on Sigma players.
Too many files streaming on Realtek have issues in playing smoothly once you go start using heavier files (M2TS, MKV 1080p). We tested 4 Realtek players so far and they all came with the same limitations of performance and immaturity. It's a Realtek SDK issue that needs addressing (we confirmed a driver issue which should be fixed in about 7 - 14 days).
Advanced users don't mind spending a bit more for these features and would only consider a Realtek based player if ready or as a hobby on the side of the real deal. That's unless they mature and come to the level of Sigma in maturity. Not perfect either, but better.
Medium users:
While medium users would suffer less from NFS missing or proper 24p support,
they will still suffer from the overall features in handling their content.
As of medium users we believe they are willing to take the bait on more affordable players and live with it's shortcomings for a while and help push the
brands into developing it further so they eventually end up having made the
proper investment, no matter how small. Medium users will likely grow towards
the advanced user group over time and if development takes too long to add these features and mature the unit, they will start going against the brand and feel sorry they not purchased "the other" player that had these features for somewhat �50 more. It's got to be said very clearly, that Sigma players in features and maturity are way ahead of Realtek based players today but Realtek supports more formats and are in a big way more affordable in many cases. Certainly it is possible this won't last for long, but that depends on the brands releasing proper updates and catch up with the features we seen being developed over the past few years on Sigma players.
Entry level users:
Here's the danger... Affordable players, network, streaming, HD 1080p... for
�99... let's get it. Entry level users are mostly "sensitive" to affordable
media players as they not sure yet about what they can or cannot do with the player. They read about 1080p support, network, torrent etc... but often not know about the limitations. They buy it and be happy for the first 6 - 8 weeks exploring the units and then start bumping to run into limitations trying to grow into their media usage... Initially it was only DVD ISO and some divx series, then movies, then WMV and then MKV in both 720p and 1080p... So also here they could benefit from network performance, proper handling of files, NFS and so on...
In the end, the point is every mature player will fit all categories of users and while medium and entry level users might be forgiving towards an affordable HD media player not so fully functional in the HD department yet, the advanced users will not be so forgiving. As a way to offer a recommendation for those seeking pure HD playback mostly I'd stick to the Sigma players for sure at this time.
For those not scared of a few problems and shortcomings which you certainly will find on both players, Sigma and Realtek, Realtek's are a good
investment but that investment can go both ways in the future if the developing stalls for any reason (inability, bad SDK or simply lacking sales to invest).
And that whole nonsense about special chips and such... take it with sold. No
matter what chip is used, it's based on an SDK coming from Realtek and will
likely all have the bugs and limitations just the same as with Sigma. The difference is made by breaking loose from the dependency of the SDK's and become better than the "big batch" of "same o same o" players.
The potential is there, the affordable prices are there, the maturity is what needs to come still. It takes time and for a small price you can experience this progress. One thing though... I'd expect new players to be at the level
of other players who made progress over the years and not return 2 years in time to then catch up again. So my main problem is not really these players are immature in some ways (all new players are) but them being immature in sections we have been fighting to get improved over the years or simply lack "core functionality" for what they claim to, a HD player / streamer" is surprising. It almost feels like going back few years and then work again to make the same kind of progress again we already made multiple times... This can't be the "big bang" to make with a new chipset... can it?
With all the confidence, we seen many succeed and many fail, almost 50/50... Kind of a big thing to ask for trust given these numbers or give advice. We stick to today's world and Sigma is carrying the flag of convenience and maturity over these newly introduced players, even if they cost double and do less file formats. We can say, the ones it does, it does better... Both types can be recommended and
with one you have certainty of what it can do today, with the other you do not and depend on whatever the kitchen at Realtek is cooking for an SDK. One thing for sure.. it will take time, and I do mean more than just a few weeks to get the job done. Whoever believes otherwise will be proven wrong over the next few weeks and months...
</div>
http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr235/vizerx/sigmavsrealtekfordummies.gif
There's no doubt Realtek and Sigma can reach the same levels
of functionality if they want to. They both have potential and they both
have themselves in their way to make progress. The difference is only in how they do stuff and how fast given the differences in chipset performance. Now older Sigma SMP8634 players run at 300MHz, the Realtek RTK1073 and RTK1283 run at 400MHz while the Xtreamer version of the RTK1283 runs at 450MHz, over clocked. Don't be mislead by people comparing these... Realtek is a new gen chip and should be compared against the Sigma SMP864x which runs at 667MHz. Now that's a difference, but even so, it means nothing really unless we were talking about 1.6GHz processor speed that will come eventually... Now faster chips neither means faster operations if comparing the two players. We have reasonably the same results where Realtek killed it's own advantage of processing power by "pre-loading" every movie you select making it damn slow and Sigma, well, in some cases like NMT based on HTML can be slow too.
I believe the fastest and sleekest menu system is build on the TViX, but tastes vary. Most Realtek players use a preview window that cuts the screen in half and only show a list of a poor 7 titles on screen. Does not sound HD really to me where an additional problem is that title length is limited by this too due to the preview window. Xtreamer has the ability to hide this window completely and shows more titles on screen... That's what I mean by saying to get rid of Realtek SDK limitations and default interface.
Advanced users:
Serious media users today will still pick the TViX, HDI BD Prime or NMT's
over Realtek available players. This is because they cannot live without certain abilities featured on these were Realtek players today still lacks support thereof. To name but a few, Blu-ray on TViX, 24p on these units, internal and external subtitles on MKV, better trick play (FF/RW, ZOOM, GoTo etc...). These are things that make life easier to handle movies during watching them. Last but not least, NFS is crucial for network performance on heavy files and the SMB performance or way of handling the videos seems to be better on Sigma players.
Too many files streaming on Realtek have issues in playing smoothly once you go start using heavier files (M2TS, MKV 1080p). We tested 4 Realtek players so far and they all came with the same limitations of performance and immaturity. It's a Realtek SDK issue that needs addressing (we confirmed a driver issue which should be fixed in about 7 - 14 days).
Advanced users don't mind spending a bit more for these features and would only consider a Realtek based player if ready or as a hobby on the side of the real deal. That's unless they mature and come to the level of Sigma in maturity. Not perfect either, but better.
Medium users:
While medium users would suffer less from NFS missing or proper 24p support,
they will still suffer from the overall features in handling their content.
As of medium users we believe they are willing to take the bait on more affordable players and live with it's shortcomings for a while and help push the
brands into developing it further so they eventually end up having made the
proper investment, no matter how small. Medium users will likely grow towards
the advanced user group over time and if development takes too long to add these features and mature the unit, they will start going against the brand and feel sorry they not purchased "the other" player that had these features for somewhat �50 more. It's got to be said very clearly, that Sigma players in features and maturity are way ahead of Realtek based players today but Realtek supports more formats and are in a big way more affordable in many cases. Certainly it is possible this won't last for long, but that depends on the brands releasing proper updates and catch up with the features we seen being developed over the past few years on Sigma players.
Entry level users:
Here's the danger... Affordable players, network, streaming, HD 1080p... for
�99... let's get it. Entry level users are mostly "sensitive" to affordable
media players as they not sure yet about what they can or cannot do with the player. They read about 1080p support, network, torrent etc... but often not know about the limitations. They buy it and be happy for the first 6 - 8 weeks exploring the units and then start bumping to run into limitations trying to grow into their media usage... Initially it was only DVD ISO and some divx series, then movies, then WMV and then MKV in both 720p and 1080p... So also here they could benefit from network performance, proper handling of files, NFS and so on...
In the end, the point is every mature player will fit all categories of users and while medium and entry level users might be forgiving towards an affordable HD media player not so fully functional in the HD department yet, the advanced users will not be so forgiving. As a way to offer a recommendation for those seeking pure HD playback mostly I'd stick to the Sigma players for sure at this time.
For those not scared of a few problems and shortcomings which you certainly will find on both players, Sigma and Realtek, Realtek's are a good
investment but that investment can go both ways in the future if the developing stalls for any reason (inability, bad SDK or simply lacking sales to invest).
And that whole nonsense about special chips and such... take it with sold. No
matter what chip is used, it's based on an SDK coming from Realtek and will
likely all have the bugs and limitations just the same as with Sigma. The difference is made by breaking loose from the dependency of the SDK's and become better than the "big batch" of "same o same o" players.
The potential is there, the affordable prices are there, the maturity is what needs to come still. It takes time and for a small price you can experience this progress. One thing though... I'd expect new players to be at the level
of other players who made progress over the years and not return 2 years in time to then catch up again. So my main problem is not really these players are immature in some ways (all new players are) but them being immature in sections we have been fighting to get improved over the years or simply lack "core functionality" for what they claim to, a HD player / streamer" is surprising. It almost feels like going back few years and then work again to make the same kind of progress again we already made multiple times... This can't be the "big bang" to make with a new chipset... can it?
With all the confidence, we seen many succeed and many fail, almost 50/50... Kind of a big thing to ask for trust given these numbers or give advice. We stick to today's world and Sigma is carrying the flag of convenience and maturity over these newly introduced players, even if they cost double and do less file formats. We can say, the ones it does, it does better... Both types can be recommended and
with one you have certainty of what it can do today, with the other you do not and depend on whatever the kitchen at Realtek is cooking for an SDK. One thing for sure.. it will take time, and I do mean more than just a few weeks to get the job done. Whoever believes otherwise will be proven wrong over the next few weeks and months...
</div>