Novabase and Entropic launch DTAs to speed analog cable switchoff in Europe

Friday, September 12th, 2014
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Novabase Digital TV Technologies and Entropic Launch New Class of Digital Transport Adapters (DTAs) to Speed Analog Cable Switchoff in Europe

  • Fast Channel Change Feature Improves User Experience; Making the Switch From Analog to Digital Seamless

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands — IBC — Novabase Digital TV Technologies, GmbH, a company owned by Novabase, the Portuguese leader in IT, and Entropic (Nasdaq:ENTR), a world leader in semiconductor solutions for the connected home, today announced a new portfolio of Digital Transport Adapters (DTAs), powered by Entropic’s EN7100-series of set-top box (STB) system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions. The new DTAs allow cable subscribers to seamlessly keep watching their analog TV sets even when connected to an all-digital cable network, and enable cable operators to reclaim analog bandwidth which is necessary for launching value-added digital services such as HDTV and high speed broadband connectivity.

The new DTAs from Novabase Digital TV Technologies, GmbH leverage the processing power and performance of Entropic’s ARM®-based EN7100-series, which is a low power, cost optimized SoC with support for advanced security protocols. A fully-integrated SoC, the EN7100-series delivers advanced broadcast decoding, media processing, graphics rendering technologies, and an impressive four-tuner design which delivers a fast channel change feature at 250-milliseconds for a seamless end-user experience when switching from analog to digital TV service.

“With the explosion of digital broadcast and IPTV services, European cable operators need to deploy DTAs to quickly transition subscribers from analog to digital TV services and programming – without incurring extra costs associated with advanced service set-tops,” said Michael Pauli, managing director of Novabase Digital TV Technologies, GmbH. “We selected Entropic’s SoC because we were confident in its comprehensive feature set, picture quality capabilities, optimized systems approach and advanced power management features. We believe these features will enable subscribers to take advantage of operators’ optimized digital services with their current home theater layout and enable operators to quickly expand their networks by reclaiming under-utilized analog bandwidth.”

“As most cable networks in Europe are still largely analog, operators are unable to deploy new services due to lack of spectrum,” said Roger Gregory, vice president, Marketing, Entropic. “By leveraging the Entropic-powered DTA from Novabase Digital TV Technologies, GmbH, operators can free up bandwidth to offer new services, increase the broadband speeds of their networks and be more competitive with other Pay-TV service offerings.”

Entropic’s EN7100 SoC family is an industry-compliant, high-performance, value-based SoC with an advanced ARM processor with 2500 DMIPS, field-proven video decoder technology, integrated demodulator and DDR3 memory support, enhanced software and security features, and flexible network interfaces.

Availability

The new line of DTAs from Novabase Digital TV Technologies, GmbH are available today. The new devices will be on display at IBC in Amsterdam, September 12-16, 2014, Hall 13, Meeting Suite G106/G107 at the RAI Convention Center.