In November last year, MediaTek announced the Pentonic 2000 SoC for flagship TVs offering support for up to 8K 120Hz displays. Built on TSMC's 7nm manufacturing process, the Pentonic 2000 was the first all-in-one chip for TVs with support for 8K 120Hz displays and the first commercial 8K TV chip with Versatile Video Coding (VCC) H.266 media support. MediaTek claimed that the chip offered the TV industry's fastest CPU and GPU, coupled with an ultra-wide 6-channel memory bus, UFS 3.1 storage, support for Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail, and support for MediaTek's new Wi-Fi 6E or 5G cellular modems. MediaTek has now announced the Pentonic 700 chipset for premium smart TVs, which brings some of the new technologies introduced with the Pentonic 2000 SoC down to a more affordable price point.

The all-new MediaTek Pentonic 700 SoC for premium 4K 120Hz smart TVs features a powerful AI processing engine for AI-powered picture quality enhancements, Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail support, integrated 4K 120Hz MEMC, and gaming optimizations. Like the Pentonic 2000, the new chip features an AI processing unit (APU) with support for MediaTek's AI-Super Resolution, AI-Picture Quality (PQ) Scene Recognition, and AI-PQ Object Recognition technologies for advanced edge smoothing and detail reconstruction. Furthermore, the Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail support on the Pentonic 700 helps enhance picture quality by improving the contrast in bright and dark spots.

Talking about the new chip, Alex Chen, General Manager of MediaTek's TV Business Unit, said, "MediaTek's Pentonic series brings more intelligence to smart TVs with a host of AI-powered picture quality enhancements. Smart TV brands can count on Pentonic 700 to deliver incredible experiences whether consumers are watching videos or sports, gaming, or using their TV as a control center for their other smart devices."

Along with the AI-powered enhancements, the MediaTek Pentonic 700 also features Picture-by-Picture (PBP) and Picture-in-Picture (PIP) support with PQ enhancement, allowing TVs to display content from different sources simultaneously. This feature allows users to stream multiple sporting events at the same time and video chat with friends while watching content together. The PBP and PIP support can also come in handy for professionals by allowing them to display different content streams simultaneously and offering more video conferencing options.

MediaTek Pentonic 700 infographic.

Although the Pentonic 700 is designed for premium 4K 120Hz smart TVs, the SoC also offers Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support up to 144Hz. Thanks to this, OEMs can customize the chipset for gaming applications, allowing users to enjoy games without any screen tearing or stuttering. Other gaming optimizations include HDMI 2.1 support, an Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) to minimize display lag, and Dolby Atmos certification for immersive sound.

As mentioned earlier, the Pentonic 700 brings some of the flagship features introduced with the Pentonic 2000 down to a more affordable price point. These include a built-in hardware video decoding engine with support for HEVC, AV1, and AVS3 standards, along with the VVC H.266 standard. In addition, OEMs can pair the Pentonic 700 with MediaTek's Filogic Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity solutions to offer high-speed and ultra-low-latency connectivity to users.

MediaTek says that smart TVs featuring the new Pentonic 700 chip should hit the market by the end of this year. At the moment, the company has not shared the names of OEM partners who will offer next-gen smart TVs featuring the new chip.