LONDON — MaxLinear Inc. (Carlsbad, Calif.), a fabless semiconductor company developing all-CMOS RF and mixed-signal ICs for consumer markets, has announced the availability of its MxL1x1SF family of tuner and demodulator chips for DVB-T and hybrid receivers.
The product provides frequency coverage from 44-MHz to 1-GHz and consumes approximately 450-mW of power. The chips are intended for use in television sets, PCTV, IPTV and terrestrial set-top boxes (STBs).
The two products currently available are MxL101SF and MxL111SF. Both parts are available in a 7-mm by 7-mm QFN 48 package and priced at $3 per unit in high volumes.
In addition to integrating all functionality required to receive and demodulate DVB-T signals, MxL1x1SF parts also provide access to the IF output signal of the tuner, enabling hybrid implementations by connecting a discrete analog or digital demodulator to the tuner IF output interface. This configuration leverages the built-in tuner to enable DVB-T/DVB-C or DVB-T/analog applications at a very low cost and in a very small footprint. The IF output frequency of MxL1x1SF devices is software configurable, which provides a seamless interface to all commonly available demodulators on the market today.
The MxL101SF SoC integrates MaxLinear's MxL5007T and MxL201RF tuner cores with the company's NORDIG/DTG compliant DVB-T demodulator technology. A fully integrated loop-through function is also integrated on MxL101SF.
The MxL111SF device also provides integrated USB 2.0 connectivity and allows a second external demodulator or analog video decoder to share its USB interface. The MxL111SF provides input and output options for serial and parallel transport streams and supports configurable BT656 and I2S inputs to interface with external analog video decoders.
MxL1x1SF parts utilize an API-based software architecture, reducing the programming of the device to a few commands and eliminating the need for complicated register calls. Additionally, MxL1x1SF parts require no firmware download or complicated spur avoidance algorithms.
Mass production samples are available now. MaxLinear will demonstrate the MxL1x1SF family during IBC and production quantities will be available in Q4 2009.
