MUMBAI: ST Microelectronics, a supplier of System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions for digital TV, has announced the DTV150, its new cost-saving hardware platform. The DTV150 provides demodulation, MPEG-2 high-definition (HD) and standard-definition (SD) decoding, full HD video processing, high quality audio, and the video switching functions, for integrated digital TV (iDTV) sets worldwide. This highly-integrated solution is built around ST’s new STi1010 single-chip iDTV processor, which provides the capability to use the same chip for both digital and analog broadcast decoding, and for video TV processing.
The new platform achieves an excellent balance in the trade-off between performance and cost, giving iDTV manufacturers the ability to produce sets that meet worldwide standards, with high-quality full HD displays, while reducing the Bill of Materials (BOM). The DTV150 is intended particularly for the mid-range iDTV market, but also offers a cost-effective solution for more price-sensitive products, enabling manufacturers to use a single platform for WXGA or full HD applications, with single- or double-video pipe for Picture-in-Picture display, and is fully compliant with middleware requirements, such as MHEG-5 or MHP (multimedia home platform).
At the center of the chipset is the STi1010 processor – manufactured using an 80nm CMOS process technology – which provides unified analog and digital TV in a single chip, with a common graphical user interface (GUI) and single TV processor for both analog and digital TV reception. It supports displays up to 1080p (1920 x 1080), including full 1080i de-interlacing using ST’s 3D contour sensitive de-interlacer (CSDi) to enhance picture quality. The STi1010 has been developed from ST’s established STD2000 iDTV processor, with enhanced picture quality, improved connectivity including embedded HDMI, dual LVDS output and a USB 2.0 Hi-Speed interface for JPEG and MP3 playback, and capability for decoding AD (Audio Description), Dolby Digital, and AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) audio streams.
The processor is supported within the DTV150 platform by other high-performance devices including the industry-leading STV0362 (European DVB standards) and STV0374 (US ATSC standards) digital demodulators; by the versatile STV83xx series single-chip TV sound processors, with the capability to decode and process digital audio sources with multi-channel content, driving a range of audio channels from enhanced stereo up to full 5.1 surround sound and embedding ST’s proven analog stereo demodulator; and by the STV6402 or STV6415 video switches.
“The DTV150 platform offers the best compromise in the industry between cost and picture quality, while providing the full video and audio feature-set that manufacturers expect,” said ST’s Home Video Division general manager of the consumer business unit Gabriel Guglielmi. “As well as building on the digital TV expertise from our earlier platforms, its design draws on our huge experience as the world leader in the set-top box chip market.”
The STi1010 supports PIP (Picture-in-Picture), and its high-end dual-plane OSD (On-Screen Display) is generated at display-panel resolution. The chip includes a 32-bit 250MHz unified DDR2 memory interface for CPU, OSD and video . Hardware and software reference designs for the DTV150 platform are developed for the North American ATSC, European DVB, Chinese DDTB and Japanese ISDB-T markets.
The STi101x is supplied in a 27 x 27mm PBGA package as the STi1010 for the full HD display capability with PIP, and as the STi1011 for the WXGA version with no PIP. Production samples will be available in February 2008, with volume production planned for Q2 2008. Customer development samples are available now.
The total Bill of Material (BOM) for the DTV150 platform with a full high-definition configuration targeting the European market is expected to be lower than $45.
