Product category:
Communications ICs (Wireless)
News Release from: Broadcom Corp | Subject: BCM4501
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 06 January 2006
DVB-S2 receiver chip replaces four
devices
Broadcom has developed the industry's first DVB-S2 receiver chip that features two integrated tuners and demodulators.
Broadcom has developed the industry's first DVB-S2 receiver chip that features two integrated tuners and demodulators The capabilities of the new Broadcom receiver go beyond current DVB-S2 silicon implementations in both integration and performance, offering manufacturers a significantly lower cost solution for the development of DVB-S2 capable satellite set-top boxes (STBs), personal video recorders (PVRs), satellite receivers and integrated multifunction home media centres
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 19 Oct 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Broadcom is the first company to develop a DVB-S2 satellite receiver chip that integrates the demodulators and tuners into a single-chip design.
Other silicon solutions require separate DVB-S2 tuners and demodulators, which significantly increase the number of components on the receiver design and result in increased bill of material costs as well as power consumption.
The BCM4501 DVB-S2 receiver chip integrates two tuners and two demodulators, reducing the number of components on a dual DVB-S2 receiver design from four chips to one and reducing power consumption by more than 40% over current multichip devices.
These reductions significantly lower the system bill-of-material costs and reduce the complexity of dual tuner DVB-S2 satellite receiver designs.
"We are pleased to provide this highly integrated satellite front-end solution to customers today especially when advanced satellite products are being rolled out in volume production", said Brian Sprague, Senior Director of Marketing for Broadcom's Set-Top Box Line of Business.
"By providing a single-chip design that includes dual tuners and demodulators, Broadcom is once again enabling satellite equipment manufacturers to reduce system board space, power and cost for their high definition set-top box platforms".
"With a growing number of HDTV channels to be delivered by satellite pay-TV providers in 2006, those pay-TV providers are looking to the higher capacity enabled by DVB-S2 for more efficient HD channel delivery", said Michelle Abraham, Principal Analyst at InStat.
"In 2009, we expect satellite set-top boxes with next-generation advanced modulation technologies to account for 30% of the worldwide satellite set-top box unit shipments".
The BCM4501 DVB-S2 receiver provides a seamless interface to Broadcom's BCM7400, BCM7401 and BCM7402 AVC/MPEG-2/VC-1 single-chip solutions as well as to the BCM7038/BCM7411 decoder chipset, offering solutions for set-top boxes that can simultaneously support one or two high definition (HD) AVC broadcast channels.
Two HD AVC channels enable end users to watch an HD AVC program while recording another or to record multiple programmes at the same time.
The BCM4501, when combined with the new BCM7400, is the industry's first two-chip solution for dual HD-AVC decode, dual HDTV or dual HD picture-in-picture set-top box configurations.
The BCM4501 is a dual DVB-S2 satellite receiver chip that integrates two CMOS tuners and two advanced demodulators supporting DVB-S2, DVB-S and DirecTV broadcast applications.
The new receiver chip can support all high volume, advanced modulation DVB-S2 and DirecTV network deployments while maintaining backward compatibility with DVB-S and DigiCipher II satellite networks.
An integrated frequency translation module transceiver/communication link enables the BCM4501 to cost-effectively support multiple low noise block (LNB) configurations over a single coax cable connection that eases home installations while reducing cable requirements in the home.
The BCM4501 DVB-S2 satellite receiver chip is available today and is priced at $25 in quantities of 1000 units or more.
The BCM4501 is packaged in a 208-pin MQFP.
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