San Francisco—Chrontel has developed a transmitter IC, the CH7315A, which links PCs to high-definition TVs using the HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) standard. The CH7315A also complies with Intel’s SDVO (Serial Digital Video Output) PC interface specification.
The CH7315A HDMI transmitter is a mixed-signal IC that transmits uncompressed, copy-protected video and audio data over a secure link from PCs to external televisions, HDTVs, DVD recorders and A/V receivers.
The CH7315A HDMI transmitter receives video data through the SDVO bus, and it receives audio data from via an Intel High Definition Audio (HD Audio) bus. The CH7315A combines audio and video data, converting it into a single HDMI-compliant bit stream for transmission to external consumer electronics devices.
The CH7315A accepts SDVO serial input speeds of 1-Gbits/s to 2-Gbits/s, and transmits video output at 25-M to 165-M pixels per second—pixel rates that support all HDTV display modes from 480i to 1080i/1080p. The device also supports 8-channel audio output at 192-kHz. The CH7315A incorporates High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) cryptographic functions and HDCP keys.
The CH7315A features dual output ports so that two external consumer electronics devices can be connected simultaneously. This eliminates the need to manually switch connectors as consumers swap the active receiving device from one connection to another. This feature allows easy implementation of a second HDMI output via the docking station of a notebook PC.
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HDMI, which has been adopted as an audio/video interface by more than 300 makers of consumer electronics and PC systems worldwide, has become a de-facto standard for connecting home entertainment products. For more information on HDMI, click here: www.hdmi.org/
Intel’s SDVO interface specification is a high-speed serial data interface designed into Intel’s latest PCI Express-enabled chipsets: the Intel 915G, 915GV, 910GL and 945G Express Chipsets. Manufacturers that design PCs using these PCI Express Chipsets require SDVO-compliant HDMI transmitters to link the internal Integrated Graphic Device of a PCI Express chipset with external consumer electronics products that use the HDMI standard to receive and display high-definition video and audio content.
The Chrontel CH7315A will be sampling in the second quarter of 2006, and production volumes will be available early in the third quarter of this year. The device is offered in a low-cost 64-pin LQFP package, and comes complete with Windows XP and Windows Vista driver support. The CH7315A is priced at $6.00 in 10,000 piece quantities.
Chrontel, 1-408-383-9328, www.chrontel.com
