Clock devices cut multimedia system costs

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Nov 13, 2001

The MediaClock voltage controlled crystal oscillator (VCXO) family of clock devices from Cypress Semiconductor is aimed at audio and video systems.

The MediaClock voltage controlled crystal oscillator (VCXO) family of clock devices from Cypress Semiconductor is aimed at audio and video systems, including set-top boxes, digital cameras, video game consoles, DVD players, and HDTV sets.

The advanced MediaClock architecture allows new multimedia clock requirements to be fulfilled with engineering samples in as little as one to two weeks.

The family today includes a total of five standard and numerous semicustom devices in 8-pin SOIC packages and 16-pin TSSOPs.

"Cypress is taking advantage of its overall leadership in the clock chip market to design and deliver innovative timing solutions for audio and video products", said Ian Chen, director of product marketing at Cypress's Timing Technology Division.

"The MediaClock family was developed to address the performance, time-to-market and cost requirements of the multimedia market, where tough specifications for frequency errors and low noise performance combined with tight profit margins conspire to eliminate casual competitors".

The MediaClock family integrates next-generation, 10bit digital VCXO technology, with a pull range of approximately +/-150ppm.

VCXO technology is easily configured to be compatible with virtually any crystal designed for pullability, resulting in improved VCXO performance and a lower bill-of-materials cost for the new generation of set-top boxes.

A crystal oscillator with adaptive capabilities minimises crystal aging effects.

Although the audio clock was once the limiting component in achieving the highest audio performance in a given system, the new Cypress devices use the latest PLL technology to achieve better clock jitter and enable full 24bit audio performance.

MediaClock devices meet the clock jitter specifications dictated by DVD and other newly released audio standards, which were unheard of just a few years ago.

Pricing for MediaClock devices starts at $1.50 for the CY2410-1 in volumes of 10,000.

Samples are available now.