NEC Electronics Announces iDTV SoC

26th August 2008

ES Admin

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NEC Electronics has announced that it began sample shipments of the EMMA 3TL, a new SoC product for full high definition (HD) iDTV supporting the H.264/AVC next-generation video compression standard. EMMA3TL is an image-processing SoC integrating all the functionality needed for digital television on a single chip, including graphics and audio/video decoding. The new device will enable designers to develop iDTV for worldwide markets with lower cost.

Next month, NEC Electronics will begin providing design information for a reference board for the new product. The company will also begin sample shipments next month of EMMA2TL SoC for digital televisions supporting MPEG full HD. Because EMMA3TL and EMMA2TL have compatible pin layouts and software, users will be able to select the product suited to the broadcast format, reducing development costs and software-development times by using a common PCB for all developments.

NEC Electronics has identified semiconductors for digital audiovisual products as a key business field, and is working actively to expand this business. Since launching the EMMA series – an A/V decoder and image-processing SoC for set-top boxes with digital broadcast receivers – in 1998, the company has continued to develop new EMMA products in three fields: set top boxes, digital televisions, and DVD recorders, achieving a strong reputation in the market. As a result, the company had net EMMA sales of ¥40 billion (US$360million) in fiscal 2007, and expects them to grow to ¥50 billion (US$450million) in fiscal 2008.

The market for full-HD digital televisions, which have a 1,920 (H) x 1,080 (V) pixel resolution is currently very strong, and NEC Electronics launched EMMA2TH/H for full-HD iDTV in the third quarter of 2008. Taking a cue from the adoption of the H.264/AVC broadcast standard (mainly in Europe), the company also released the EMMA3SV supports H.264/AVC in the third quarter of 2008. The rapid drop in prices of digital televisions, however, has created demand from television manufacturers (the users of these products) to integrate these product features into a single chip in order to reduce system costs.

The new product was developed to meet these needs. It improves on the performance of each of the circuits of EMMA2TH/H and integrates previously external I/O circuits including a video A/D (analogue to digital) converter, audio A/D converter, analogue audio stereo decoder, and an HDMI™ receiver, and integrates the H.264/AVC codec developed through the commercialization of the EMMA3SV, all on a single chip.