[Via Satellite 05-27-2014] Sharp, a Japanese consumer electronics company, has chosen the ViXS XCode 6400 System on Chip (SoC) to power the company’s Ultra High Definition (Ultra-HD) 4K Recorder TU-UD1000 products, as well as the company’s UD20 series of Ultra-HD 4K digital TV products. The TU-UD1000 4K recorder will support a trial 4K broadcasting service over built-in satellite tuners.

This marks the first use of consumer products in Japan to support a 4K High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) decoder that can receive, record and replay this new 4K service. The UD20 series of digital TV’s is able to display the trial 4K broadcasting service. The Aquos UD20 series with Video on Demand (VOD) services is set to release in October 2014.

The XCode 6400 SoC can decode HEVC-based content and can display 4K content at 60 frames per second. The 10-bit HEVC brings more than 1 billion colors to the screen and is designed for smoother color transitions, reduced color banding and improved end-user video quality. Sharp is planning the first shipments of the TU-UD1000 Aquos recorder and UD20 series Aquos 4KTV products in June 2014.