Zarlink claims IC for wallet-sized STB iappliances

Swindon, England --- Zarlink Semiconductor Inc. has designed a pair of digital television processing chips for the terrestrial digital video broadcast (DVB-T) standard written by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and in use in Europe and elsewhere.

The company claims that with its ZL10310 chip or its ZL10311 chip a manufacturer could build a digital terrestrial set-top box that is less than half the size of today's models, or slightly smaller than a wallet.

The ZL10310 and ZL10311 perform the major DVB-T functions with the exception of the radio tuner on chip, the company said. The ZL10311 offers the addition of Dolby digital audio decoding and Macrovision copy protection capabilities, Zarlink said.

The company has produced a set-top-box reference design motherboard that measures 90-millimeters by 55-mm by 25-mm. The reference design consumes about four watts.

"Our DVB-T On a Chip processor, set-top box reference design, and DVB-T software stack is a total package that benefits customers by using significantly less board space and power than competing products," said Paul Fellows, DTV product line directora at Zarlink Semiconductor, in a statement.

The ZL10310 and ZL10311 are in volume production both chips packaged in 388-ball plastic ball grid array packages. The ZL10310 is priced at 35.00 in quantities of 1000 whereas the ZL10311 costs US$38.00 in quantities of 1000.

Go to www.zarlink.com for more information on this product.

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