Auvitek's AU8515 Demodulation And Channel-decoding IC Powers Sansonic's NTIA-Certfied ATSC STB

San Jose, CA. — Auvitek International Ltd. (Auvitek), a leading supplier of high-performance digital television receiver solutions, today announced that two of Sansonic’s AU8515-based Coupon Eligible Converter Boxes (CECBs) designed by Falcon Digital have been formally certified by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) as passing the most stringent standards for ATSC reception.

The Sansonic FT-300A and the Sansonic FT-300RT CECBs, designed around Auvitek’s market leading AU8515 ATSC demodulation and channel-decoding IC, are the first in a number of models from Sansonic expected to receive formal approval from the NTIA, and will be available at major retail outlets in the US from Q1 2008.

The NTIA is certifying converter boxes that meet a stringent set of performance criteria, making them eligible for purchase using the $40 retail credit vouchers being offered by the US government as part of the upcoming transition from analog to digital broadcast television. The coupon program begins on January 1 2008, and it is estimated that as many as 40 million NTIA certified CECBs will be sold at retail in the US during the 18 month period over which the coupon program operates. The government funded DTV Coupon Program is intended to offset much of the cost associated with ensuring the estimated 23 million US households that today rely solely on analog television reception will be able to receive digital broadcast programming using their existing analog TV sets when the analog broadcasts end in the US on February 17th 2009.

“The NTIA ATSC receiver performance specifications are very challenging, and designing the Sansonic CECBs around the AU8515 was the only way we could guarantee surpassing the NTIA requirement,” noted Jun Liaw, CEO of Falcon Digital, the design and manufacturing company behind the Sansonic brand. “Working closely with the Auvitek team, our engineers developed and tested the platform over a 12 month period. Field tests throughout the United States have demonstrated that we consistently outperform other digital receiver solutions available today.”

“Auvitek’s patented and proprietary FADE™ architecture is setting new standards for performance metrics in digital television reception,” said Auvitek President and CEO Pete Birch. “We are able to provide our customers consistent, quality signal reception in even the most difficult broadcast reception environments. Our CECB reference design is guaranteed NTIA-certifiable, and we are very pleased to have worked with Falcon to be one of the few companies able to deliver products to assist in the digital transition.”

The Auvitek AU85xx family of ATSC demodulator solutions is shipping today in a wide range of end products for both the consumer electronic and personal computer markets, including IP-STBs, digital TVs, PCI cards, and USB TV sticks.

Auvitek will be exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January 8 -10, 2008, in Booth #HE2165. Demos of the company’s products will be presented at the Hilton Hotel, East Tower, Suite #2165.

For more information about the DTV Coupon Program visit www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon or www.dtvtransition.org