iboum.com : Future Entertainment Technology : Realtek 1073DD+ / 1283DD+ Explained

Starting in Spring 2010, Realtek switched production for all 1073 and 1283 chipsets to an updated version called '1073DD+' and '1283DD+'. These new chips are identical to their 'DD' predecessors except that they are now capable of passing through (bitstreaming) lossless HD Audio formats (DTS-HD MA / Dolby TrueHD).

To be clear, all 'DD' versions of the Realtek chips are capable of passing the lossy HD Audio formats such as Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS. The only difference is in the ability to pass lossless audio as found on Blu-Ray discs.

Unfortunately, several of the original Realtek Media Players were advertised as capable of lossless HD Audio from launch in summer 2009. It became apparent around the end of 2009 that the original chips were never going to able to pass lossless HD-Audio. This confusion / false advertising has been covered in detail around the internet and we won't start pointing fingers here. What we will say is that the iboum site has always published the most accurate specs. We have been accurate about Realtek HD-Audio issues since late 2009.

The situation we have now with Realtek chipset players is confusing and complicated. Manufacturers are taking different approaches to the introduction of 'DD+' based players. Some are creating new products with these chips (Egreat R4A, DViCO 6600+) whilst some are simply using the new chips in existing products (ACRyan Play!On, Mede8er).

The latter approach is massively problematic if you are buying a player. There is no way of knowing which chip is in your player without opening it up and invalidating the warranty. We advise you check with the retailer first and even try to get a written guarantee that the chip is the DD+ version. It is likely many retailers won't have a clue whether they are selling the DD or DD+ version..

All players on our site that have both 'DD' and 'DD+' variations in circulation are marked DD(+) and have a paragraph linking to this page in their description.

There is further confusion because even the new 'DD+' based players can't actually pass HD-Audio with any current Realtek firmware! All the new players are waiting for an updated Realtek SDK with HD-Audio built in. The best estimate we've had for these new firmwares is August 2010.. Until then the only players with full HD-Audio support remain the ancient Sigma 8635 players (e.g Popcorn Hour A-110) or the new Sigma 864x based players (e.g. Dune 3.0, Egreat A1080, Popcorn Hour C-200).

Comments