Horizon Semiconductors Delivers Revolutionary Single Chip Native 1080/60p High Definition Transcoder for Next-Generation Set-Top Boxes, Media Players, iVDRs and Location-Free TV

Monday, October 15th, 2007

HERZLIYA, Israel — Horizon Semiconductors, a leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable secure video and audio compression & transmission for the consumer electronics and home entertainment markets, announced the immediate availability of industry’s first single chip multi-standard native 1080/60p Transcoder for the triple-play/quad-play Cable, Satellite and IPTV Set-Top Box, Digital Video Recorder and Home Media Center, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player and recorder, iVDRs, place shifting boxes and location-free TV markets.

Horizon’s Hz4010 supports a wide range of features and capabilities specifically designed to meet the emerging requirements of the Cable, Satellite, IPTV and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD markets. The Hz4010 incorporates a multi-standard high definition video CODEC natively supporting resolutions of 1080/60p and below, and implementing leading compression standards including AVC (up to HP@L4.2), VC-1 (AP@L3 and MP@HL), MPEG-2 (MP@HL), MPEG-4/H.263 & DV/HDV, an advanced video pre/post-processor featuring motion compensated spatio-temporal noise reduction filtering, frame rate conversion and advanced scaling, a high performance audio CODEC engine enabling transcoding between various audio formats such as MPEG-1, AC-3, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, AAC and WMA, a programmable high-bandwidth transport processor, as well as a multi-standard conditional access/digital rights management security processor. Horizon’s Hz4010 is provided with a comprehensive software stack and a reference hardware platform designed to significantly accelerate OEM/ODM development cycle.

“The improved bandwidth efficiency resulting from Horizon’s Hz4010 transcoder will enable manufacturers to securely deliver high definition DVD-quality content from the STB to subscriber’s location-free portable devices via wired line such as Ethernet, USB or IEEE1394, or wireless connection, support more stored programs and free up network bandwidth for additional revenue generating services”, said Amir Morad, President and CEO of Horizon Semiconductors. “Horizon is committed to develop and support these new technologies and to work closely with service operators and set top box vendors to bring them to the market in the near future.”

“As PVR and high definition video were the drivers for advanced Set-Top boxes in the recent years, we view the secure transfer of content from Set-Top boxes to portable AV players, as well as place-shifting & location-free-TV, as emerging drivers that will ultimately change the way people watch TV”, said Michelle Abraham, principal analyst, In-Stat. “We have been following Horizon since inception, and are eager to see the company translating its technology innovations into financial success, as we anticipate that Horizon’s recent IC introductions will play a pivotal role in driving the deployment of next generation Set-Top boxes & location-free player/recorder devices that feature superb video quality and viewing experience.”

Product Information

The Hz4010 is designed with the highest level of integration, embedding a variety of cutting edge technologies such as:

  • Powerful multi stream decoder and encoder engines, supporting real-time transcoding of 1920×1080/60p HD, or faster-than-real-time lower-resolution media streams, using leading compression standards including: H.264 (AVC) Baseline, Main and High Profile up to Level 4.2, VC-1 (SMPTE 421M) Advanced Profile @ Level 3, DV, HDV, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.
  • Multi-channel multi-format audio encoder, decoder, and special audio effects processor, supporting leading standards such as: MPEG-1 Layer I, II & III (MP3), Dolby(R) Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, AAC/AAC-LC/AAC-HE, DTS, DTS-HD (DTS++), WMA and WMA Pro.
  • Multi-stream high bandwidth flexible mux/demux processor, supporting essential web and mobile delivery file formats such as M2T, MPG, MP4, ASF, AVI, MKV, and others.
  • Advanced video pre/post-processor, supporting temporal, spatial and non-linear adaptive noise reduction.
  • Sophisticated polyphase scaler and optional advanced motion adaptive high-definition de-interlacing and advanced motion-compensated picture enhancement, providing the best playback performance on portable players.
  • Wide variety of advanced connectivity and peripherals including DVB TS, 10/100/1G Ethernet, USB 2.0, IDE/ATAPI, SMPTE-292, Flash, I2C, SPI/SSI, UART and others.
  • IR & UHF Remote control processor supporting IR/UHF keyboards and IR-Blaster.
  • IEEE 1394 (FireWire) with integrated DTCP security.
  • iVDR interface with integrated SAFIA content protection scheme.
  • World-class security processor with embedded secure OTP memory, enabling complete content protection in strict compliance with numerous conditional access and digital rights management schemes commonly used in the cable, satellite, IPTV and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD marketplace.
  • A dedicated co-processor supporting 3GPP RTP/RTSP streaming of multiple channels as well as DLNA and UPnP requirements.
  • Powerful, easy to use API, with the ability to accelerate and off-load host application code.

“The age of Location Free TV is finally here. Our ability to integrate several of Horizon’s leading technologies will now enable our customers to bring to market cost-effective, low-power, faster than real-time transfer of secured content to portable media players, cell phones & game consoles at home and over the network at the highest video quality, thus extending the flexibility of sharing video content across multiple playback platforms”, said Leonid Yavits, Chief Technology Officer of Horizon Semiconductors. “Today’s iVDR & location free TV’s video quality and price point inhibit mass market adoption – our new chipset and software will radically improve both of these key market drivers, establishing Horizon as the leader in this market.”

To facilitate faster time-to-market, Horizon is also announcing the immediate availability of the HzR4010 reference design kit. This fully operational transcoder box product includes PCB schematics, full software design kit and documentation.