Slimline TV tuners fit modern equipment designs

Compact DVB-S and DVB-T tuners offer development engineers more freedom in the design of modern slimline devices.

Sharp has developed new DVB-S and DVB-T tuners with the slimmest housings currently available on the market.

Furthermore, both lineups include model variations for horizontal or vertical mounting.

With the two new model series, the height of the housing for vertical integration tuners and the width of the housing for horizontal integration tuners are around 30% lower than that of conventional tuners.

This is a significant advantage in the development of the next generation of, for example, satellite receivers, TV sets and personal video recorders (PVR).

Thanks to the improved form factor and the flexibility in mounting, the Super Compact tuners offer development engineers more freedom in the design of modern slimline devices.

The housing of the new Super Compact tuner is around a third smaller in volume.

This, coupled with the model variations for horizontal or vertical integration, means that it is much easier to accommodate two or more tuner components in the housing chassis and to make the best use of the space available.

In this way, televisions and PVRs, for example, can be equipped with an additional receiver part for satellite TV.

Up until now, many appliances needed an external receiver for this.

Despite its new slimmed down form, the new Super Compact DVB-S tuner has excellent technical features, particularly in terms of receiver dynamics, interference immunity, input sensitivity and sideband noise.

This is ensured by the receiver ICs which have been specially developed by Sharp and are based on many years of development know-how in the high-frequency range and special knowledge in HDTV reception.

The slim-line DVB-S tuners cover the typical frequency range between 950 and 2150MHz for satellite TV transmission with standard resolution (SDTV).

The model series of the Super Compact DVB-S tuners includes pure RF front-end reception parts with housing dimensions of 30.5 x 29.6 x 13.2mm as well as so-called network-integrated modules (NIM) tuners.

These are equipped with a QPSK demodulator type STV0288 from ST Microelectronics that supplies a digital 8bit data stream for further signal processing.

The housing of the DVB-S Super Compact NIM measures 59.1 x 29.6 x 13.2mm.

From a technological perspective, the new Super Compact DVB-T tuners are similar to their slightly larger predecessor models.

Correspondingly, the tuners cover the typical frequency range of between 147 and 862MHz for terrestrial TV transmission and fulfil all current standards.

The Super Compact DVB-T tuner model series from Sharp includes pure RF front-end reception parts with a housing measuring 47.75 x 29.6 x 13.2mm as well as NIM models.

These integrate the RF front end together with a COFDM demodulator with a type ZL10353 circuit from Zarlink Semiconductor that supplies a digital 8bit data stream for further signal processing.

The housing of the DVB-T Super Compact NIM measures 70 x 29.6 x 13.2mm.

The Super Compact model series for DVB-S and DVB-T tuner are based on a further development of the corresponding reception components with standard housing from Sharp.

All Super Compact tuners are therefore completely pin-compatible with the respective Sharp standard model.

This means that design engineers can base the next generation of AV equipment on the respective predecessor models without needing to make any time-consuming and costly adaptations to the tuner components.

Furthermore, with the introduction of the Super Compact model series Sharp is offering a unique range of tuner components for terrestrial, satellite and cable TV reception and can therefore provide the right solution for the most diverse requirements.

The NIM tuners in the respective model series are also shortening the development times.

As the DVB-T or DVB-S RF front ends are combined with suitable demodulators in each case, hardware developers do not have to carry out comprehensive high-frequency technology development work or spend time optimising demodulator switches.

The DVB-NIM tuners therefore help Sharp partners to achieve shorter time to market cycles and competitive advantages.

Like all terrestrial, satellite and cable tuners from Sharp, the new Super Compact DVB tuners comply with the valid RoHS standards.

The new Super Compact DVB-S and DVB-T tuners respectively are available with immediate effect from the Sharp sales offices and distribution partners.

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