Micronas Introduces First Real Single-Chip Hybrid Analog/Digital TV Decoder (0116)
Highly integrated system-on-a-chip powered by Zoran and Micronas allows system manufacturers cost-effective transition from analog TV to IDTV
Freiburg (Germany), August 27, 2001 - Micronas has opened the way to cost-effective integrated digital television (IDTV) sets with its introduction of the first real single-chip digital TV decoder. The chip, called the MDE 9500, also meets the requirements of the multimedia home platform (MHP) standard. MDE 9500 is the product of a joint development effort with Zoran Corporation (NASDAQ:ZRAN) and incorporates intellectual property from Zoran and Micronas as well as new IP jointly developed for this decoder.
With its newest chip, Micronas is addressing the emerging IDTV market. In the coming years, IDTVs are expected to replace analog TVs with separate digital set-top-boxes. Cahners In-Stat Group predicts that the global market for digital TVs will reach over US$4 billion by 2004, up from $800 million in 2000.
Micronas is targeting the upcoming hybrid digital/analog TV market with the MDE 9500."The new digital TV engine enables TV manufacturers to develop and build cost-effective digital TV sets for consumer applications while remaining backward-compatible to existing analog TV infrastructure" said Peter Rost, marketing manager for digital TV and set-top box at Micronas."The introduction of the multimedia home standard will further drive consumers to invest in interactive TV receivers - as long as they understand the stability and future security of their investment"
The multimedia home platform (MHP) will enable a fully horizontal digital TV market by defining an open and standardized programming interface for interactive TV applications. A unified market of MHP receivers, editing tools and content creation resources will provide economies of scale and a considerable market potential to all involved players. The MDE 9500 offers a platform that meets all the MHP requirements.
"Zoran is proud to be the lead developer of the first solution-on-a-chip for the exciting integrated DTV market, expected to replace, over time, the analog TV set of toda", said Dr. Isaac Shenberg, Zoran's senior vice president business development."Combining the vast experience of Zoran in digital video and audio with Micronas' TV know how greatly accelerates our opportunity to penetrate the digital TV market"
The MDE 9500 is the flagship of Micronas' single-chip mixed-signal decoder family. It combines all of the network-independent digital signal process tasks of digital receivers while supporting also analog video processing. The high-performance graphic system supports all DVB recommendations, embedded TV applications and upcoming services like interactive TV. Furthermore, the chip features interfaces to address external devices such as IEEE 1394 link layer and ATA/IDE hard-disk drives. The interfaces and the system partitioning are adjustable to different TV systems enabling the manufacturers to build up complete system solutions.
"TV and set-top box manufacturers are looking for a scalable hardware and software platform that allows implementing low-cost and full-featured products based on a single architecture" explained Rost."With the MDE 9500 and its derivatives, Micronas offers a clear path for system manufacturers through the transition phase from analog TV into the age of IDTV"
Chips of the MDE 950x family are programmable platforms that are built around a 32-bit microcontroller. The ICs operate at 3.3 V and 1.8 V and are packaged in Plastic Ball Grid Arrays. Besides the MDE 9500, also a basic version called MDE 9502 will be available. All processor-related peripherals of the MDE 9500 as well as the MPEG-related hardware controllers are connected to the microcontroller via a high-performance on-chip bus. The platform includes two independent DMA engines to support the microcontroller for the handling of external and internal data streams. It integrates a DVB-compliant MPEG-2 source decoder, embedded DRAM, a high-performance graphic system, and components like analog decoder, FBA encoder, and VBI data slicer for full support of analog broadcasting.
Finally, the MDE 9500 has full analog and digital Teletext support. The data slicer supports all services transmitted in the analog mode (Teletext level 2.5, NexTView, TeleWeb, WSS, VPS, CC). Digital Teletext information can be processed and displayed on chip and be reinserted in the CVBS output signal.
Micronas and Zoran are currently evaluating first silicon of the MDE 9500. In October, the complete development environment will be available to lead customers. Of the two partners, it will be primarily Micronas to market the chip.
About Zoran Corporation
Zoran Corporation, based in Santa Clara, California, is a leading provider of digital solutions-on-a-chip for applications in the growing multimedia and consumer electronics markets. With almost two decades of expertise developing and delivering digital compression technologies, Zoran has pioneered high-performance processing into various audio, video, and imaging technologies. Zoran\'s proficiency in integration delivers major benefits for OEM customers, including greater capabilities within each product generation, reduced system costs, and shorter time to market. Zoran is a leading supplier in the rapidly expanding DVD and digital camera markets and in related digital audio and video applications. With headquarters in the U.S. and operations in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, Zoran may be contacted on the World Wide Web at www.zoran.com or at 408-919-4111.