Dual DVB-S2 Demodulator Enables Cost Effective HDTV Watch-and-Record DVR Satellite Set-Top Boxes

The STV0900 is built using 90nm process technology, ensuring lower cost through increased integration, while reducing power consumption. The power requirement is intrinsically much lower than for a twin STB0899 solution, in addition further software-based power management features are built-in to help STB manufacturers obtain green accreditation. Careful attention to the overall Bill of Materials (BOM) has led to optimum integration resulting in lower costs coupled with a high level of design flexibility.

Like the STB0899 demodulator, the STV0900 supports both the latest DVB-S2 specification and the original DVB-S standard, which has been in use for more than ten years by satellite operators worldwide. The dual standard capability means that STB manufacturers can use the STB0899 and the STV0900 in ‘DVB-S2-ready’ set-top boxes to provide a seamless upgrade path for viewers as more services become available. Both products support normal QPSK (quadrature-phase-shift-keying) and 8PSK modulation, as well as the DVB-S2 pilot processing that enables more robust reception.

DVB-S2 increases the capacity of satellite communications links by 30% compared to the DVB-S standard – close to the theoretical performance limit – and in combination with other new coding and satellite technologies enables the effective deployment of high data-rate applications such as high definition TV (HDTV), broadband Internet and interactive services, as well as a significant increase in the number of standard channels that can be broadcast in a conventional transponder.

The dual demodulator is designed to integrate seamlessly with silicon tuners such as ST's STB6100, which replaces complex traditional discrete tuner circuitry and eliminates the need for specialist RF design expertise. For downstream processing it offers cost-saving glueless interfaces to the broad range of MPEG-2 and H.264/VC-1 decoders in ST’s standard and high definition OMEGA decoder family. ST provides STB manufacturers a major step for a DVB-S2 Watch-and-Record set-top box, with highly competitive pricing. Software drivers and reference designs with full documentation are provided as part of the development environment.

Support is included for two DiSEqC 2.0 (Digital Satellite Equipment Control) interfaces, a widely used protocol that allows a satellite STB to control peripheral devices connected to the coaxial cable. Extensions to the DiSEqC open standard, proposed by ST and adopted by the industry, enable the STB to manage the rooftop LNB (Low-Noise Block) and simplify installations needing to handle more than one user channel. Up to eight user channels can be combined onto a single coaxial cable eliminating the need for multiple cables or multi-core cables.

The dual demodulator is packaged in a 128-pin exposed pad LQFP, 14 x 14mm, quad flat pack, with 0.4mm pitch. The STV0900 kit – with tuners – is priced at less than US$10.00 in volumes of 100,000 units. Volume production is planned for the first half of 2007.