New Si21x8 TV Tuner Family Enables Lowest System Cost and Delivers
Superior RF Performance and Picture Quality
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Silicon
Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB), a leader in high-performance,
analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs, today introduced a next-generation
family of TV tuners offering both best-in-class RF performance and
support for all worldwide TV standards while delivering the lowest bill
of materials. The new Si21x8 family represents the state-of-the-art in
TV tuner technology based on four generations of patented architectural
enhancements. The Si21x8 family includes five TV tuner devices optimized
for hybrid analog/digital iDTVs, analog-only or digital-only TVs,
portable TVs, DVD and Blu-ray recorders, and terrestrial and cable
set-top boxes (STBs).
Based on Silicon Labs' patented, market-leading TV tuner architecture,
the Si21x8 family offers unsurpassed sensitivity and selectivity
performance and is being designed into nearly all Tier 1 TV brands. New
RF enhancements enable the Si21x8 tuners to offer the highest tolerance
to Wi-Fi and LTE interference without the need for external filtering
components. In addition, the reduced noise floor of the tuner IF output
delivers unsurpassed video signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for analog TV
reception. The combination of these improvements results in a clearer,
less grainy TV picture and reception of more channels versus competing
solutions.
High-quality analog TV support continues to be an important feature for
the TV tuner market. Although a few countries have successfully switched
to digital-only broadcasts, more than 95 percent of today's TVs must
continue to support analog broadcast reception. In addition, analog-only
TVs prevalent in China, India and Southeast Asia represent about 20
percent of the global TV market. For these regions, analog TV tuners
often require a high tolerance to non-standard analog TV signal
conditions. Based on three previous generations of worldwide field
testing and broad adoption by Tier 1 TV makers, the Si21x8 family's
superior RF performance enables robust analog TV reception, even in the
presence of non-standard signal conditions.
Requiring only a very low number of inexpensive passive external
components, the Si21x8 family enables the lowest bill of materials of
any TV tuner available today. Unlike competing products, the Si21x8 TV
tuners require no balun on the RF input, which helps reduce system cost
and complexity. A new integrated power-on reset monitor, and the ability
to operate with a single 3.3 V power supply, further reduce system cost.
In addition, enhanced on-chip ESD protection saves cost for
high-performance TV modules that demand higher ESD immunity. Like
previous generations of Silicon Labs' TV tuners, the Si21x8 family
requires no external wirewound inductors, loop filter capacitors,
tracking filter inductors or crystal load capacitors.
The Si21x8 family offers low power consumption (less than 500 mW),
enabling TV and STB makers to meet Energy Star and other energy
efficiency standards. These standards are continually evolving and
becoming a more critical factor in the component selection decision.
Lower power consumption reduces heat dissipation and power supply
requirements, which is especially useful for multi-tuner TV and STB
designs.
As with all TV tuner products from Silicon Labs, the Si21x8 family
supports all worldwide TV broadcast standards, including NTSC and
PAL/SECAM for analog TV, and DVB-T2/C2/T/C, ISDB-T/C, ATSC/QAM and DTMB
for digital TV. For unparalleled flexibility in matching TV tuners with
various system architectures, all products within the Si21x8 TV tuner
family are pin-to-pin compatible and share a single software API. This
allows a single module or PCB design to address multiple TV and STB
applications for both digital and analog TV.
"Silicon Labs' Si21x8 family represents the ‘gold standard' in TV
tuners, offering our customers the utmost in RF performance and system
cost reduction," said James Stansberry, vice president and general
manager of Silicon Labs' broadcast products. "Our market-proven TV
tuners will ship into nearly one third of all TVs sold this year,
delivering the performance and reliability required by TV makers to
ensure that consumers have a superior viewing experience."
Pricing and Availability
Samples and production quantities of the Si2178/58/48/38/28 TV tuners
are available now. The Si2178 hybrid TV tuner with analog demodulator is
priced at $1.40 USD in 10,000-unit quantities. The Si2178-A-EVB,
Si2158-A-EVB and Si2148-A-EVB evaluation kits, each priced at $495 (USD
MSRP), provide comprehensive platforms for evaluating Silicon Labs' TV
tuners for TV and STB applications. For more information about Silicon
Labs' Si21x8 TV tuners and to purchase samples and development tools,
please visit www.silabs.com/pr/tv-tuner.
Silicon Laboratories Inc.
Silicon Laboratories is an industry leader in the innovation of
high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs. Developed by a
world-class engineering team with unsurpassed expertise in mixed-signal
design, Silicon Labs' diverse portfolio of patented semiconductor
solutions offers customers significant advantages in performance, size
and power consumption. For more information about Silicon Labs, please
visit www.silabs.com.
Cautionary Language
This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on
Silicon Laboratories' current expectations. These forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties. A number of important
factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could
impact Silicon Laboratories' financial results and cause actual results
to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements,
please refer to Silicon Laboratories' filings with the SEC. Silicon
Laboratories disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
Note to editors: Silicon Laboratories, Silicon Labs, the "S" symbol, the
Silicon Laboratories logo and the Silicon Labs logo are trademarks of
Silicon Laboratories Inc. All other product names noted herein may be
trademarks of their respective holders.
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Silicon Laboratories Inc.
Dale Weisman, +1-512-532-5871
dale.weisman@silabs.com
Source: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
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