NXP Launches Industry First SARFT-compliant Silicon Tuner For Chinese Digital Cable Set-Top Box Market

High Performing Low Power Solution to Fuel Increasing Demand for Cost Effective STBs

BEIJING & EINDHOVEN, Netherlands — NXP Semiconductors, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, today launched a highly-integrated silicon tuner – TDA18252HN – with multi-standard digital cable reception addressing the domestic Chinese set-top box (STB) market. The first SARFT-compliant silicon tuner, TDA18252HN will revolutionize the Chinese cable STB market by offering tremendous cost savings and performance efficiencies to manufacturers and operators, compared with tuner solutions used today. Manufacturers can further reduce time-to-market with a half NIM reference design using NXP’s TDA18252HN that is pin-to-pin compatible with conventional CAN tuners widely in use in Asia currently.

Working closely with the Chinese cable STB makers, NXP has understood the infrastructural challenges and tailored the TDA18252HN to reduce external component count, improve assembly and deliver digital content with integrated analog-compliant loop through to connect analog TV. NXP’s new silicon tuner reduces the power dissipation by only consuming 800mW during normal operation, and even lesser power when the IC is in standby mode. Additionally, the built-in IF selectivity eliminates the need for high cost external filtering.

“As Asian cable set-top box markets become hungry for digital services, NXP’s new silicon tuner will fuel the immediate availability of low-cost STB solutions, previously dominated by CAN tuners,” said Robert Murray, Director, TV Front-end Solutions, NXP Semiconductors. “The TDA18252HN builds on NXP’s leadership in silicon tuners, delivering highest picture quality on very affordable solutions for the emerging markets.”

The TDA18252HN is ideally suited for DVB-C and digital cable set-top box applications, with support for other global standards including SCTE-40, J-QAM and NORDIG. NXP also offers a number of complete reference designs based on the TDA18252HN to give manufacturers a head start when bringing new set-top box solutions to market.

Availability

NXP’s SARFT-compliant silicon tuner, TDA18252HN is available Q2 2008, and will be on demo at CCBN 2008 in Beijing, China during March 21-23.