The MT8581 will power the industry’s first Blu-ray players to use both Ultra-HD (UHD) and high-dynamic range imaging (HDR), dramatically improving display clarity and contrast beyond what is currently on the market. Unlike competitors, MediaTek is the only company with a dedicated chipset for Blu-Ray players, leading the industry in both technology and accessibility worldwide.

The MT8581 powers a revolutionary viewing experience that gives consumers four times the pixel density of today’s Blu-ray players. This provides a display quality so clear it has been compared to looking through a window instead of watching a television.

“MediaTek’s expertise in multimedia technology means we understand the coming world of advanced screens. We design solutions so consumers get the most stunning, crystal-clear experience regardless of which format they choose for their viewing experience,” said Joe Chen, executive vice president and co-chief operating officer, MediaTek.

“UHD with HDR imaging has the potential to revolutionize home viewing as much as the leap from VHS to DVD did, hence our research and development investment.”

HDR is another standard recognized in the industry as boosting display quality. It reproduces a greater dynamic range of light and dark visuals than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques, improving the appearance of on-screen contrast.

The MediaTek MT8581 can support Blu-ray, DVD and CD playback, including the latest BD-ROM format, such as BD-Live and BonusView. It will allow consumers to both scale up to 4K from DVD and scale down to a non-4K screen to accommodate both legacy and cutting-edge screens and discs.

It features HEVC, H.264 and VP9 4K 60p video decoder for 4K (3840x2160) video content and also MPEG-2, VP8 and VC-1 2K 60p video decoder for legacy 2K (1920x1080 video content). For audio decoding, it has capabilities for Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, and DTS-HD master audio, via multi-format decoding, that can support high quality audio streaming.

With mass production set for the second half of 2016, MediaTek’s MT8581 for UHD 4K Blu-ray players marks the latest in a series of leading home entertainment products.