Tizen TV 5.5: What's New?
Samsung published the specifications of the (2020) Tizen 5.5 to their Developers pages in March 2020.
Chromium 69
Their Chromium version is increased from 64 (Tizen 5.0) to 69. The following changes to Chrome could be somewhat relevant.
| Chrome Version | Features |
|---|---|
| 65 | |
| 66 | BitmapRenderer |
| 67 | Desktop PWA |
| 68 | Payment Handler API |
| 69 | AV1 and much more |
Chromium 69 is the most interesting patch, as it offers decoding support for AV1, allows developers to query the available encryption schemes and HDCP policies through EME and more. However, AV1 decoding support was later pushed to Chromium version 70.
Supported Media: AV1
The following changes have been introduced.
- Added support for PlayReady 4.2 with SL3000 instead of PlayReady 3.3.
- Added support for Widevine Modular 15.2 instead of Widevine Modular 14.1.
- Added support for AV1.
- Added support for HEVC level 5.2.
Resolutions at 8K
The 8K models can watch video at 8K and applications at 4K. More info at https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/specifications/general-specifications.html. Tizen 5.0 and earlier didn't offer 8K.
Conclusion
Tizen 5.5 is a decent update as it offers decoding support for AV1 and an improved MSE & EME API. Surprisingly, the native video player does not yet support multi-subtitles in MPEG-DASH.