However, with its new SupraTV 160 family of highly-integrated processors for digital TVs and STBs, demonstrated at the International Broadcast Convention (IBC) 2006 in Amsterdam in September, Zoran Corp. aims to enable its customers to offer a range of highly-differentiated DVB products based on a single platform. In fact, STBs based on its DSP-based SupraTV 160 processors already are in products from Grundig, Homecast, Thomson and other leading manufacturers of DVB-cable, -satellite and -terrestrial set-top boxes for Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Traditionally, CE OEMs & ODMs have addressed different geographic markets & application segments with different chipsets & software. Now, using the same family of pin- and software-compatible SupraTV 160 chips and Zoran reference platforms, they can design from entry-level systems to higher-level boxes that have additional features & functions for their global standard definition markets. Thus, they can build both high-volume and high-value products that are affordable for consumers.

Market/Product Diversity
Clearly, there's already a wide variety of DVB markets in Europe & Asia, for terrestrial, satellite, & cable set-top boxes. For example, DVB-S is popular in Europe & the Middle East; DVB-T is well-established in Western Europe and emerging in central & Eastern Europe; & China is in the throes of converting over 100 million analog cable TV subscribers in that country to DVB-C over the next 5 years. While STBs, whether they be Free-to-Air (FTA), PayTV, or integrating DVR, are the principal products targeted for Zoran's SupraTV 160 family, other products expected to use the new integrated digital TV processors include digital & portable DTVs.

The SupraTV 160 family of programmable processors and platforms, when combined with Zoran's complete SiliconSoftware solution, delivers all the key features required for designing terrestrial, satellite, and cable set-top boxes, as well as integrated digital TVs for the European market.

< Hardware
b>Hardware
There are 4 pin-compatible chips in the SupraTV 160 family: The first (ZR39160) is designed for use in entry FTA & Pay TV markets; a second (ZR39161) is aimed at premium FTA & Advanced Pay TV products containing DVR & advanced copy protection; a third (ZR39162) is targeted for use in entry FTA terrestrial products in the U.K. & includes Strategy & Technology (S&T) MHEG-5 software; and a fourth (ZR39163) is designed for premium (DVR & advanced copy protection) terrestrial with DVR & advanced pay TV applications in the U.K., & also with S&T MHEG-5 software.

Notably, Zoran is also making available a comprehensive development platform, or reference design, with its own SupraTV 160 processors & other pre-qualified chips on-board, that's intended to significantly reduce the time OEMs & ODMs need to develop feature-rich DTV & STB products. Using these designs and software for the target markets typically enables equipment makers to enter full production within 4-6 months.

Zoran licenses pre-qualified customers all the software, as well as hardware schematics from which they review, modify, build & test their products. Most Zoran customers modify the reference design for their preferred components (e.g., tuners, demodulators, DRAMs, Flash &/or power supplies). Using pre-qualified, production-proven software and components, the reference design makes it quite easy for OEMs & ODMs to introduce high quality products and accelerate time-to-market & -money.

The SupraTV 160 family integrates a 32-bit 170 MIPS CPU complete with a Memory Management Unit (MMU) supporting 16- and 32-bit SDRAM, programmable multi-stream transport demultiplexer with conditional access, flexible audio DSP supporting MPEG, and other audio standards, MPEG video decoder, high quality video scalar with an advanced 2D graphics engine, digital video encoder, audio DAC, digital timing oscillator, and smart card protection and control functions. The chip is designed with a programmable guest bus that enables glue-less, low cost connections to hard drives or peripheral devices including Common Interface Modules, and Ethernet ICs. The result is a low system cost for DVB-CIM, digital video recording, and other enhanced applications.

Software
Software
Zoran provides the Operating System (Nucleus+), drivers for Zoran & non-Zoran components, Zoran middleware, & Zoran applications software (i.e., PC-based tools to create user interfaces), all royalty-free. In general, Zoran provides production-ready software for a large variety of Pan-European geographic markets & DVB market segments. Additionally, there are two key software modules: the first for U.K.-specific terrestrial applications using S&T's MHEG-5 software; the second targeted at DVR applications. Zoran's SupraTV 162 & 163 ICs come with royalty-free, pre-integrated software for U.K. terrestrial markets.

Scalability
The same family of chips, & accompanying software & middleware, can be used to design a broad range of STBs & other products such as Portable TVs, & DVRs with an internal hard drive. For example, for DVB-T applications, the Supra 160 family can be used to build: an entry-level, low-cost FTA Zapper; very small size DVB-T receivers (commonly referred to as "SCART Sticks"); & STBs that add a Common Interface Module (DVB-CIM) for decrypting Pay TV channels or upscaling to support HDMI-enabled flat panel digital televisions.

Increasingly, broadcasters encrypt more of their content, typically using one of two methods. One is a one or two-slot Common Interface Module (DVB-CIM) in a PCMCIA form factor with smart cards sold separately for decryption. In this case, consumers can purchase Common Interface Modules at retail & plug- into their STBs to decrypt pre-purchased PAY TV content. The other approach directly embeds a smart card that has been pre-integrated and certified by conditional access providers, and operators such as DirecTV, DISH, or Comcast, to ensure authorized viewing.

Additionally, there's a newer category of products emerging--STBs with HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) outputs. Using HDMI is more esthetically pleasing as it uses a smaller connector than the SCART connector commonly used in Europe and provides up-scaled resolution (typically from 480 or 576 interlaced, to 720P (progressive) or 1080I (interlaced), thus enabling OEMs to sell higher quality video and link to promotions of their other flat panel digital television models which support HDMI.

End-User Benefits
End-User Benefits
Users of SupraTV 160-based systems will significantly benefit from their high-performance. The systems also come with USB support which can enable a number of newer features including software updates, and playback of supported media files. By providing software updates via USB instead of the traditional serial port, manufacturers can remove a single-purpose connector (serial port) and replace with a smaller connector that can enable additional features.

As an example, MP3 audio clips and JPEG photos can be played using media player software provided which takes advantage of the STB's USB connector. This enables consumers to listen to their music and view their photos in their living room where it is more convenient than when using a personal computer. In addition, devices are readily available which enable multi-card readers (5:1 & 7:1) to connect to USB.

It is easy for OEMs/ODMs to add a one or two slot CIM module after installing (or designing) an entry-level STB as there is no need for a separate CIM controller as this capability has already been integrated into the SupraTV 160 IC. Also, smart cards can directly interface to the SupraTV 160 processor without purchasing external power controllers.

Furthermore, for certain applications such as with portable TVs, where the digital video output is used, the SupraTV 160 ICs each have an integrated CCIR-601 digital video I/O that can be directly interfaced to a flat-panel screen, for example, to significantly reduce the power consumption of the chip. The same interface can also be used for HDMI applications.

Given this wide variety of capabilities, it's no surprise that Zoran expects STB customers to welcome new SupraTV 160-based models from CE OEMs -- especially, the USB support and the improved price points.

Zoran, the Zoran logo and SupraTV are trademarks or registered trademarks of Zoran Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other names and brands may be claimed as property of others.

About the author
Eric Schiff joined Zoran in December 2002 to manage Zoran's entry into the digital television market. Today, as Director Standard Definition Television Marketing, he is responsible for Zoran's standard definition products addressing global cable, satellite, and terrestrial television and set-top box markets. Under his leadership, Zoran has grown its product line support to major worldwide digital television manufacturers and well-known brands including Acer, DVN, Grundig, Homecast, Mico, Thomson and others. Prior to joining Zoran, Mr. Schiff held positions at National Semiconductor and General Electric. Mr. Schiff holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Economics from Brown University and an MBA from the University of Virginia. He can be reached at