Peripheral controller puts HD TV tuner on USB

HD tuners load desktop PCs and notebooks with a complete set of media abilities that transform them into the ultimate entertainment system.

The NET 2282 PCI-to-USB 2.0 controller from PLX Technology has been as the High-Speed USB bridge in AMD's new ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB tuner products.

The NET 2282, the industry's first PCI-to-USB peripheral controller optimised for converting PCI-based designs to High-Speed USB 2.0 products, provides the powerful interface that helps the TV Wonder 650 deliver exceptional HDTV and multimedia on PCs and notebooks.

PLX NET 2282 chips are developed for high-performance PCI-to-USB 2.0 data transfers and designed for easy integration with existing PCI based systems and silicon.

This allows any system with a PCI bus to instantly add a USB 2.0 peripheral port.

NET 2282 is optimised for converting existing PCI cards or CardBus adapters to stand-alone USB devices.

AMD expanded its ATI TV Wonder product lineup with the new HD tuners, which load desktop PCs or notebooks with a complete set of media abilities that transform them into the ultimate entertainment system.

The new additions include two TV tuners that allow users to watch and record off-the-air Digital TV/HDTV, unencrypted digital TV (ClearQAM) cable programming and analogue TV, and listen to FM broadcasts.

"Supplying high-speed USB controllers to AMD for the ATI TV Wonder products illustrates how PLX interconnect devices meet the connectivity requirements of diverse consumer and industrial applications", says David Raun, PLX Vice President of Marketing and Business Development.

"These controllers feature powerful programmable interfaces to gluelessly connect various applications like the ATI TV tuners and other peripherals".

"AMD has once again delivered technology leadership in providing TV and video for the PC", says Ian McGill, Director of Multimedia Marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD.

"ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB transforms the PC into a complete, feature-rich PVR (Personal Video Recorder) to watch and record HDTV and exceptional analogue TV on the PC.

The PLX USB controller chips allow AMD to provide seamless high-performance connectivity".

The ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB is a combo tuner-PVR that allows users to switch between analogue and digital TV to watch and record a digital TV programme while watching/recording an analogue TV channel featuring ClearQAM tuning to receive unencrypted digital content from local cable television providers.

ATI TV Wonder products are available now, through its partner VisionTek, at Best Buy stores across North America.

PLX USB controllers offer superior performance, strict compliance to industry standards and dramatic power savings.

The devices are widely used in TV tuners, printers, portable media players, GPS systems, PCs, laptops, WLAN devices, mobile phones, digital cameras, and camcorders.

PLX also offers 26 ExpressLane PCIe switches and bridges thus providing board and system designers with the most extensive and proven lineup of interconnect products, the majority of which are in full production today with over one million chips shipped.

The company's PCIe switches range in density from three to 12 ports and from five to 48 lanes, while the PCIe bridges provide PCI, PCI-X and local-bus support.

The PLX portfolio includes the highest performance per watt, with latency as low as 110ns, as well as integrated nontransparency and Hot-Plug functionality to help reduce customers' bill-of-material costs.

All PLX products are fully supported with a Rapid Development Kit (RDK) family of hardware and software tools to accelerate design cycles.

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