Mirics adds ISDB-T reception to its FlexiTV™ solution for TV on a PC

World’s first demonstration of ISDB-T Full-Seg and One-Seg software-based receivers to take place in Japan at CEATEC

FLEET, UK — Mirics Semiconductor will showcase an enhanced version of its Mirics FlexiTV™ broadcast receiver – a complete RF, host interface and software demodulation solution for the notebook PC platform – at CEATEC Japan. Using the same silicon hardware that demonstrated the world’s first software demodulation-based reception of DVB-T, FM, T-DMB and DAB at Computex in June, Mirics FlexiTV has taken another leap forward with support for ISDB-T with just a software upgrade. The new ISDB-T functionality adds nothing to PC TV receiver’s bill of material (BOM) cost, which remains below $5 for a PC TV mini-card solution. The same mini-card design can be used globally, resulting in unprecedented economy of scale for PC OEMs and ODMs.

Mirics has chosen the CEATEC exhibition for its ISDB-T launch because of the large importance of the Japanese market, whose consumers often set new trends in the use of portable and multimedia technologies. Mirics will be demonstrating Mirics FlexiTV on stand 4B13 during CEATEC, receiving live off-air Full-Seg broadcasts, and displaying demodulated One-Seg channels from this received content. Mirics FlexiTV’s capability to receive and demodulate ISDB-T Full-Seg will also be demonstrated.

Mirics Semiconductor is the leading provider of global broadcast silicon and software receiver solutions. By implementing software demodulation running on a host processor, Mirics FlexiTV leverages the power and system memory of today’s PC platforms. This allows portable reception of global broadcasts without multiple silicon-based demodulators or additional system memory. Mirics FlexiTV also provides a simple standards upgrade path via software re-configurability, thereby enabling future-proofing against emerging or variant broadcast standards.

Mirics FlexiTV consists of the MSi3101 chipset and a unique software demodulator running on the PC main CPU. The MSi3101 combines Mirics’ proven low-power multi-band reception technology supporting bands from 150KHz (LW) to 1.9 GHz (L-band), and an interface chip which converts the tuner output into digital form suitable for transmission over a USB interface. The digitized RF signal can then be demodulated and displayed by existing PC system resources, removing the need for a demodulator IC.

“Japanese companies frequently set the standard for innovations in consumer electronics,” commented Chris Cytera, Mirics FlexiTV Product Line Director. “CEATEC is the perfect platform to showcase Mirics FlexiTV and capture the imagination of these companies by highlighting how our breakthrough will enable TV and radio reception to become a standard feature on all notebook PCs. Thanks to the ISDB-T software upgrade, Japanese consumers can look forward to watching their favorite free-to-air TV content on Mirics FlexiTV-enabled notebook PCs in the very near future.”