Silicon for better DTV tuning, PIP, speed and size

Silicon tuners now have the edge, and offer feature advantages like inexpensive PIP via time slicing.


By Neil Mitchell, Xceive Corporation
videsignline.com (October 10, 2008)

The digital TV switchover in the U.S. has been, and continues to be a gentle transition. Most cable and satellite subscribers will be unaffected thanks to digital set-top-boxes (STBs). Even the most basic level of cable subscriber, without a STB, will have time to adjust as broadcasters continue to provide analog signals alongside digital for up to three years after the February 2009 "switch."

TV manufacturers must are also transitioning tuner architectures. The question, however, is no longer digital versus analog. That transition is set. Analog tuners are making way for hybrid analog/digital tuners and later on to digital-only tuner solutions in the 2011/2012 timeframe. The real question now is CAN versus silicon.


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Figure 1: Simplified DTV block diagram

Silicon digital tuners arrived on the scene with lackluster fanfare. Initial tuners lacked the performance and picture quality delivered by their bulky CAN tuner counterparts. Not all silicon tuners are created equal, however, and improvements have changed things around. Today, Xceive's production-proven, second-generation silicon tuners exceed CAN tuner performance and picture quality, while delivering additional benefits and differentiators.

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