Design Article

Highly-integrated DTV processors ease design burden of addressing multiple Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) products

Eric Schiff, Zoran Corp

11/8/2006 8:25 AM EST

Whether they be original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or original design manufacturers (ODMs), designers of digital video broadcast (DVB) systems--set-top boxes (STBs), DVRs, digital TVs, portable TVs and other products--are challenged to develop systems that serve a wide spectrum of multi-national markets, such as exists in Europe. On top of that you can add the complexities of designing for both entry-level and feature-rich systems. Now, compound this by the complexity of designing hardware for burgeoning consumer markets, such as in China and the Middle East, as well, and the reality that DVB hardware is required in three flavors—satellite, cable and terrestrial—it becomes clear the design complexity issue can be a real nightmare for consumer electronics OEMs & ODMs.

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.

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