PESI updates LNB converter with Entropic Channel Stacking Switch

Prime Advances Its Digital Satellite Outdoor Unit Products With Entropic’s Second-Generation Digital Channel Stacking Switch (dCSS)

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — ABTA 2014 – Entropic (Nasdaq:ENTR), a world leader in semiconductor solutions for the connected home and Prime Electronics & Satellitics Inc., a leading manufacturer of advanced digital satellite communication and wireless consumer electronic products, today announced the availability of the new Prime Low Noise Block (LNB) converter, based on Entropic’s EN5520 digital Channel Stacking Switch (dCSS). The new LNB will be on display this week at the ABTA 2014 Expo & Conference in São Paulo, Brazil, in the Entropic booth (D4) and in the Prime booth (M2).

Building on its established presence in the global Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) market, where Prime and Entropic have already deployed analog-based CSS solutions in Brazil and India among other markets, Prime will now offer operators a more advanced single-cable LNB solution based on Entropic’s second-generation dCSS solution – the EN5520. Entropic’s EN5520 is a highly-integrated dCSS solution, with the world’s lowest power, most cost-optimized and smallest form factor when compared to competitive outdoor unit (ODU) products. By using Entropic’s EN5520 dCSS chipset, the Prime LNB provides 32 user bands to support more tuner/demodulators as DBS operators migrate to gateway/client architectures and deliver more High Definition (HD) entertainment into and throughout the home.

“Entropic is the industry’s trusted market leader in the Channel Stacking Switch space – leading the global marketplace in analog CSS technologies and now delivering its second-generation digital CSS solution,” said Vincent Hung, vice president of Marketing and Sales, Prime Electronics & Satellitics Inc. “We continue to partner with Entropic as we are focused on delivering the most powerful single-cable run outdoor unit products that will enable DBS operators worldwide to stream more content from more satellites into and around the home.”

The EN5520 delivers best-in-class Modulated Error Ratio (MER) performance under all scenarios. The single-chip solution also leverages proprietary mixed-signal calibration algorithms, crosstalk and spur mitigation techniques to ensure reliable performance over a broad range of operating conditions, providing immunity to process, voltage and temperature variance. In addition to being recognized as the industry’ lowest power dCSS solution, the EN5520 includes features like multiple outputs and support for legacy, non-CSS set-top boxes. With its fully configurable User Band architecture, the EN5520 allows maximum flexibility for coexistence with Home Networking solutions like MoCA® (Multimedia over Coax Alliance), custom frequency plans, and mitigation around interferers.

“In working with Prime, we have an opportunity to minimize the complexity for how DBS operators send multiple video streams from multiple satellites into and around the home,” said Al Servati, vice president, Marketing, Entropic. “Together we are offering a groundbreaking technology that leverages the power of our EN5520, the lowest power dCSS single-chip solution, to enable Prime to deliver a more cost-effective LNB solution for high tuner count applications and enable operators to increase service offerings by delivering more entertainment value to more tuners and TVs in a home.”

Product Availability

Prime’s dCSS-based LNB will be demonstrated at ABTA 2014 in Entropic’s booth (D4) and Prime’s booth (M2) in São Paulo, Brazil, from August 5-7, 2014.