MaxLinear MxL301RF Tuners to Power Orion's Latest Line of LED Televisions

Orion Next-Generation Integrated Digital TVs Include MaxLinear Tuners on Main TV Board

CARLSBAD, Calif. — 2011 International CES — MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE:MXL), a leading provider of integrated radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal integrated circuits for broadband communication applications, today announced that its tuners have been integrated into Orion’s latest generation of advanced integrated digital LED televisions for the North American market.

The new sets will be sold under Orion’s Sansui and other brand names and should be available in the market in March 2011. MaxLinear will feature the sets for visitors to its suite during the CES 2011 show Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas.

The MaxLinear-equipped Orion televisions represent a technological advancement because they are among the first televisions to take advantage of highly reliable, low power silicon tuners mounted directly onto the main TV board. Compared to MaxLinear’s MXL301RF chip, traditional tuners require up to four times more space, require additional height and consume up to three times more power. Environmental requirements for lower power consumer electronics coupled with market trends like low profile slim televisions require implementation of new technologies to meet these stringent requirements.

“Television applications uniquely benefit from MaxLinear’s market proven CMOS tuner technology and the resulting size and low power advantages,” said John Graham, vice president of marketing for MaxLinear. “We are excited to expand our success from the set top box market and apply our extensive tuner-on-board experience to televisions.”

TV shipments worldwide now exceed 200 million units annually, according to DisplaySearch, with more than 70% of televisions shipped being integrated digital TVs. DisplaySearch predicts that silicon tuners in televisions will grow at an annual rate of close to 200 percent starting in 2011, with North America and Japan leading the market in early adoption of this technology.

MaxLinear’s pure digital CMOS tuner implementation enables full scalability in any reception standard and for any number of channels. Unlike some competitors’ products that rely on multi chip SiP technologies, MaxLinear’s RF systems are based on fully monolithic implementations for the highest reliability and lowest cost structure. Multi-chip technologies are far less reliable and not scalable at the same level as monolithic solutions.

The highly integrated MxL301RF device consumes less than 450 mW of power and is shipping in mass production. It is available in a 5x5mm 32QFN package.