NXP Semiconductors and Pegatron introduce the world's first Hybrid DVB-T TV tuner card in half-minicard form factor

NXP SAA7231NE A/V decoder brings high definition analog and DVB-T TV reception to notebooks with smaller size and lower power consumption

EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS — NXP Semiconductors, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, today announced that the collaboration project between NXP and Pegatron, a world leading design, manufacturing and service company, has achieved the world’s first Hybrid DVB-T TV tuner card in half the size of a minicard with the help of NXP’s latest generation multistandard TDA18271 silicon tuner. Additionally to the latest generation multistandard TDA18271 silicon tuner, Pegatron adopted the highly integrated NXP’s SAA7231NE A/V decoder that supports receptions of both Analog TV and DVB-T signal from different sources like cable and terrestrial programs and feature the lowest power consumption, which made it possible to develop the Hybrid DVB-T solution in half-minicard form factor.

“As the PC TV market matures and consumers become increasingly savvy about making the most of multimedia capabilities of their PCs, the ability to minimize power consumption and reduce product size while providing even stronger performance and a more flexible user experience will be a key differentiator for Pegatron,” said Hawk Hsu, Product Manager of Pegatron, Unihan Corp.. “NXP SAA7231NE is one of the most integration, power and cost effective solution, with worldwide standard support and minimum engineering request for both hardware and software, which all make it an ideal choice for our half-minicard Hybrid DVB-T card targeting the notebook market.”

“The Notebook equipped with such Hybrid half-miniCard enables end users to watch and record both analog and digital TV broadcasting programs on their notebooks and even enjoy Hi-Definition TV programs,” said Martin Maloney, Marketing Director for PC Systems, Home business unit, NXP Semiconductors. “With our SAA7231 decoder family, NXP enables manufacturers such as Pegatron to develop breakthrough devices and products with all functions integrated in a robust, single-chip solution that builds on our proven track record in PC TV systems. It reaffirms our R&D strengths and demonstrates our understanding of consumer expectations for PC TV viewing today and in the foreseeable future.”

The NXP SAA7231 family is ideally suited for TV cards in current and future flavors of Microsoft Media Centre Edition (MCE) PCs, with support for analog, DVB-T and DVB-S broadcasts as well as an integrated MCE-compliant IR controller for a full-function remote control. A state-of-the-art video processing engine decodes the analog AV stream for features such as PVR and time shifting, while adaptive 2D noise reduction improves picture quality. The SAA7231 also includes certified three-level Macrovision® detection circuitry to keep the video’s original analog copy protection intact.