Entropic Unveils Set-Top Box SoC for Cable and IP-Client Markets

SAN DIEGO — Entropic Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENTR), a world leader in semiconductor solutions for the connected home, today introduced its latest generation of high-performance set-top box system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, offering cable and IP markets a dual-core ARM® (LSE:ARM; Nasdaq:ARMH) Cortex-A9 processors with integrated NEON™ technology. The “TSC17x/18x” STB SoC family delivers on, advanced security, and ecosystem support required by leading global multiple service operators (MSOs) and original equipment/device manufacturers (OEMs/ODMs).

“As a dedicated pure-play platform semiconductor company in the connected home market, Entropic is focused on delivering complete set-top box SoC solutions that match MSO requirements and leverage our strengths in set-top box ecosystem diversity, open standards and software know-how coupled with Android security and tier-one operator expertise,” said Mark Samuel, senior vice president, Set-top Box Group, Entropic Communications. “Our latest set-top box SoC portfolio enables MSOs to quickly and cost-effectively deploy high-performance multimedia-rich products by leveraging our cable and IP-client solutions that address evolving global digital TV standards.”

Entropic’s “TSC17x/18x” family will be shown at The Cable Show (booth #1567), held in Boston next week and features:

• High Performance Application Execution Platform: High computational power provided by a 1GHz dual-core 5000DMIPS ARM Cortex-A9 processor with NEON SIMD extensions is ideal for open application frameworks and advanced user interface technologies
• Ecosystem Advantage: Extensive mobile device ecosystem support centered around the ARM architecture leveraging the latest industry-wide investments in platform software and user experience technologies including Google Android® 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” operating system
• Extensive Security Support: Enables hardened implementations of digital rights management (DRM) and conditional access (CA) technologies for protecting operator video services with the following security schemes natively embedded in its hardware: NDS NSK, Nagravision NOCS, CSA3, AES, RSA, baseband watermarking, and Cryptography Research International’s CryptoFirewall core technology
• Advanced Graphics Capabilities: Leverages advanced 3D architecture with full OpenGLES 2.0 compliance, proven performance, mature APIs and an extensive developer ecosystem
• Broad Format HD Content Decoding: Ensures STB compatibility for HD resolutions with commonly used online video on demand (VOD) and over-the-top (OTT) services, including native support for VP8 codec
• Powerful Video Decoder and Display Processing: Provides native support for the latest stereoscopic MVC (multi-view video coding), SVC (scalable video codec) and RealD 3DTVdecoding and picture formatting
• Enhanced Power Management: Delivers a smaller footprint and achieves 1GHz operation in low-power fabrication process mode for low power consumption, not available from competing solutions

Product Availability

The Entropic “TSC17x/18x” portfolio builds on the success of its predecessor, the TSC100 family, and includes the TSC174/8: single-/dual-core processor SoC for the Cable STB market and the TSC184/8: single-/dual-core processor SoC for the IP client STB market. Solutions within the “TSC17x/18x” family are currently sampling and in beta reference designs with multiple OEM customers around the world. Production volumes are expected in Q3 2012, for early access partners.

Visit Entropic at booth #1567 at The Cable Show, May 21-23, 2012, in Boston.