Lattice and MediaTek to Collaborate On Reference Smartphones For SuperMHL over USB-C

Lattice Semiconductor and MediaTek have joined forces to create reference smartphones with 4K video outputs using USB Type-C connectors and cables. The outputs will use the superMHL technology and will thus be compatible with various other superMHL devices such as TVs. The companies have already built a reference phone that supports a superMHL output over USB-C using previously announced chips from Lattice and hope that makers of smartphones will embrace the solution.

The USB Type-C technology and connectors are rapidly gaining traction across many industries. A number of modern notebooks, mobile devices and even desktops come with USB type-C ports. A good thing about USB-C is that it can be used to transfer alt mode data using a variety of protocols, including DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 and superMHL. Lattice (which acquired Silicon Image, a major developer of the MHL technology, about a year ago) clearly wants to capitalize on its expertise in the field of MHL and USB technologies by offering a reference implementation of single-lane superMHL over USB-C cables and connectors.

The simplified single-lane implementation of the superMHL used here for phones supports transmission of video in 4K (3840×2160) resolution with 30 fps over USB-C or even traditional MHL cables.

The superMHL over USB-C reference implementation by Lattice and MediaTek involves the Helio X20 system-on-chip (two ARM Cortex-A72, four Cortex-A53 at 2 GHz, four Cortex-A53 at 1.4 GHz, ARM Mali T880 MP4 graphics core, dual-channel LPDDR3 memory controller), the Sil8348 MHL transmitter as well as the Sil7033 port controller (which sets up MHL alt mode on USB-C and supports power data objects, which are needed to charge the phone). The superMHL implementation by Lattice and MediaTek supports best of both technologies’ worlds: 10 Gbps USB 3.1 transfer rate, 4Kp60 video, power delivery (for up to 100W of power), ability to connect to TVs with MHL using appropriate adapters. What is notable is that thanks the to the Sil7033 chip, simultaneous MHL and USB 3.1 connectivity is also supported. Lattice also offers Sil7013 and the Sil9396 port controllers for docks and accessories to establish MHL alt mode and convert MHL to HDMI transmission respectively.

The creation of these reference devices is the latest salvo in the ongoing war Lattice is striking over the future of video out for mobile devices. MHL was decently common in previous generation devices, however with the switch to USB Type-C ports and the creation of alt modes, there is opportunity to start anew. Practically speaking, this is a war between superMHL and DisplayPort, which are the two major video out alt modes.

One thing that will be crucial for enablement of 4K outputs using USB-C interconnection are quality USB Type-C cables. It is not a secret that there are cheap USB 3.1 Type-C cables that do not work as advertised and simply lack conductors, which can be repurposed. Such cables will not be able to support 4K output using USB-C. Cheap USB type-C cables that do not comply with standards are an industry-wide problem. If today many people may simply not notice issues with them because they are only used for data transmission with USB 2.0 hosts, in the coming years the problem will get much worse.

Finally, Lattice and MediaTek did not reveal whether their UHD output over USB-C reference platform has so far been adopted by any makers of smartphones.  

Gallery: Lattice and MediaTek to Enable 4K Outputs on Smartphones Using USB-C

Hisense at CES: Affordable and Feature-Packed 4K TVs for HTPCs

We usually don’t cover televisions in detail here at AnandTech. However, the current flux in the market when it comes to 4K displays for HTPCs made CES 2016 an interesting destination for us to look at what vendors will be offering in the near future. Consumers looking for the best possible picture quality and not concerned about the price have a number of models to choose from in the Smasung SUHDTV series and the Sony XBR series TVs.

Vizio and Hisense 4K TVs are perfect for those on a tight budget. However, a limited budget also means that one can’t afford to be an early adopter and be stuck with an outdated television early on. In June 2014, we covered the launch of the Hisense 50H7GB 4K TV. In that article, we covered the minimum features that a 4K HTPC display needed to support in order to not become obsolete within a couple of years. The 50H7GB 50″ 4K TV was launched at $600. It supported HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2, with the only disappointing factor being the absence of HDR capabilities. Consumers considering this model obviously have price, and not picture quality, at the top of their purchase factors. In late August 2015, Hisense had launched the H10 series ULED TV with full-array local dimming and quantum dot technologoy for a wider color gamut (the 65″ model is currently available for $2500).

At CES 2016, we stopped by Hisense’s booth to get an idea of what they had in store for consumers over the rest of the year and what they are working on for future products. The good news is that all the four 4K TV lineups get updated with HDR processing capability – the H7, H8, H9 and H10.

• The new H10 will be similar to the one currently available on Amazon with all the Smart TV and Wi-Fi features, but Hisense hopes to get THX certification for this high-end curved model.
• The H9 (55″, $1000, February 2016) gets all the features of the new H10 except that it will not have 3D or quantum dot technology.
• The H8 (50″ – $600, 55″ – $700, April 2016) is not a curved model. But, Hisense indicates that it will not have the vibrant picture quality of the H9 and H10.
• The H7 (43″ – $400, 50″ – $550, 55″ – $650, 65″ – $1300, February 2016) doesn’t have the full-array local dimming present in the other models, but carries forward other features from the H8.

It is exciting to see that HDR is making an appearance at mainstream price points. However, wider color gamut is absolutely essential to better appreciate the right 4K content. It might be worthwhile to take a look at the complete specification sheets of the above models before making a purchase decision. Important aspects to track down would be the panel type and panel bitwidth, color gamut coverage and black levels.

Hisense believes that there is a big tussle going on between ULED technology and OLED. To give consumers their perspective, they had the same clip running on a ULED TV as well as an OLED TV side by side in their booth.

To be frank, the OLED TV playback was more pleasing to the eye. However, a side chart indicated that OLEDs have trouble reaching brightness levels that can be achieved via ULED technology. In addition, the quantum dots technology being used in ULED TVs can deliver 106% of the NTSC color gamut, while the best OLEDs can only reach 85% of the NTSC color gamut. While the ULED TV on display was consuming 280W, the equivalent sized OLED TV was consuming 500W. Finally, the OLED TV on display currently costs three times as much as the ULED TV. It would be nice if ULED TVs could further evolve to get some of the more desirable features of OLED TVs – particularly in terms of black levels.

Looking further into the future, Hisense also had a static demo of a 8K model in their booth. Other than the resolution (7680×4320), there was no other information about the television or expected release dates.

As part of their press releases, Hisense also indicated that the Sharp brand is going to be alive and well, and will be around as a premium brand. The N9000, a 70″ flat-screen 4K TV with other specifications similar to the H10 series, will come to the market in July for $3000.

MHL Consortium Announces superMHL: New Standard & New Cable To Drive 8K TV

When the Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) was introduced in 2010, it was created to solve a simple but none the less daunting problem: how to get power in and digital video out of cell phones and other mobile devices without requiring additional (or more complex) ports, such as what would be required for HDMI. The solution developed by Silicon Image and the MHL Consortium members was the ultimate piggy-back solution, devising a method to handle power and video using just 5 pins (the number of pins in a mini/micro-USB 2.0 connector) and connecting it to MHL-compliant TVs via their HDMI ports. MHL had no port or cable to call its own, but it had an altered protocol based on the same TMDS technology behind HDMI that made it possible to get video off of mobile devices.

Flash forward a few years, and while there have been successive versions of MHL – the most recent being MHL 3 – all of these have built on the original design principles of MHL, focusing on the Mobile part of Mobile High-Definition Link while improving the specification. For this reason it came as quite a surprise to us this week when we found out that the MHL consortium was planning on taking MHL beyond its mobile roots and moving into the TV space, greatly extending the features and use cases in the process. With a mandate to provide a cable for 8K video at up to 120fps, MHL is no longer aiming low; with today’s announcement of superMHL, MHL is now aiming for nothing less than the top.

superMHL in a nutshell is a pair of improvements to the MHL specification to further improve mobile connectivity and to enable 8K video. First and foremost, the protocol itself is being improved: superMHL doubles the amount of bandwidth available over a single lane to allow for 4Kp60 video, along with defining support for deep color modes (10/12/16bit) and newer color spaces. This alone would be a notable improvement to MHL, especially as H.265 capable phones being to hit the market and the H.265 backers are pushing 4Kp60 video and 10-bit color themselves, necessitating a video interface capable of delivering that data.

However the more dramatic change is in the second improvement coming to superMHL, which is the introduction of the superMHL cable and connector. This unusual development was spurred on by the television manufacturing members of the MHL Consortium, who in developing their future 8K (7680×4320) televisions wanted a single cable that could carry the enormous amount of data required for 8K video with deep color and high frame rates. Compounding matters, the usual TV connector of choice, HDMI, was not going to be ready for the job, as HDMI 2.0 was only planned for up to 4Kp60 video. Consequently TV manufacturers turned to the MHL Consortium, who became tasked with developing a cable and connector standard for 8K video.

The Consortium’s solution was the suitably named superMHL connector. A reversible connector containing 32 pins, the superMHL is among the densest digital video connectors ever devised, packing those 32 pins in a space roughly the same size as the 19 pin HDMI Type-A cable. With 32 pins the superMHL connector would be capable of carrying 6 lanes of MHL data as opposed to 1 lane on a traditional MHL setup, providing the necessary bandwidth for 8K video, and capable of carrying it two to three meters over a standard (passive) cable.

By going this route the MHL standard now serves two masters, mobile and the home, and consequently the standard now covers a much wider range of use cases and potential configurations. superMHL-to-superMHL cables will be the cable necessary for 8K video, and meanwhile USB to HDMI cables will continue to support mobile devices.

Overall the superMHL standard allows for ether the traditional HDMI connector or the new superMHL connector as a “sink” connector, and no fewer than 3 “source” connectors. Joining the regular micro-USB as a source, USB type-C and the superMHL connector are now supported as source connectors as well. Of these combinations we expect superMHL to superMHL and USB to HDMI will be the most common, especially since 4K TVs can still go ahead and implement superMHL protocol support for 4Kp60 video without using a superMHL port. However if superMHL ports on TVs gain traction, then direct USB to superMHL would become increasingly viable. Meanwhile for USB Type-C in particular, thanks to the Type-C’s alternate mode support, Type-C to superMHL will be able to support 2 or 4 MHL data lanes (versus 1 for micro-USB), leaving the door open to potential mid-bandwidth use cases in the future.

Finally, along with the changes to the MHL protocol and physical interface, for superMHL the standard is also having its power and multi-display limits increased. superMHL power delivery will allow for up to 40W (20V @ 2A) versus MHL 3’s 10W, which will allow MHL connections to carry enough power to not just run tablets but to charge them as well. Meanwhile, though currently rarely used in any form, superMHL increases the number of displays allowed in an MHL multi-display configuration to 8 displays, thanks in large part to the bandwidth increases.

Ultimately today’s announcement from the MHL Consortium marks an interesting turn of events in what has otherwise been a complementary relationship between MHL and HDMI. Though this doesn’t make the standards competing standards – especially not when both are based on TMDS technology and both have TMDS owner Silicon Image among their members – this does for the first time create a real degree of overlap between the two. MHL’s place in mobile is as secure as it ever was, but what will come of their home/TV efforts remains to be seen.

At least in the short term superMHL will be the only option for 8K TV, and in fact Samsung already has an 8K TV with superMHL up and running for CES. But how long it superMHL remains the only option for 8K is another matter entirely. Even outside of its higher bandwidth support, superMHL has some other technological advantages such as the reversible connector and the ability to carry power which give it an advantage over HDMI for 4K video, but for most cases this is not going to be a massive advantage.

In any case, ignoring the HDMI overlap for the time being, superMHL should still bring tangible benefits for both of its primary markets. With an upgraded protocol capable of supporting 4Kp60, MHL is better than ever for traditional mobile applications. Meanwhile with the new superMHL cable and connector, TV manufacturers eager to get 8K TVs out the door will finally have a single cable standard to drive those TVs with.

Gallery: MHL Consortium Announces superMHL: New Standard & New Cable To Drive 8K TV