New generation single-chip solution for digital set top boxes from STMicro

Price is an important factor for service providers defining a STB for new digital-TV services during the accelerating migration from analog to digital TV. By combining the function of the ‘front-end’ digital-signal demodulator with the ‘back-end’ MPEG decoder in a single package, ST reduces overall STB production costs for consumer electronics manufacturers, due to the lower cost of the chipset and by enabling a simpler STB design.

The decoder supports the advanced security features required by all major conditional-access (CA) suppliers The 200MHz clock speed of the embedded ST20 32-bit RISC CPU core – the most widely used CPU in the STB market – provides increased power for advanced applications and is fully compatible with all mainstream set-top box middleware.

“The QAMi5107 sets a new industry standard for advanced security, mass-market set-top boxes, reinforcing the outstanding success of the OMEGA family of MPEG2 decoders,” said Monica De Virgiliis, General Manager for ST’s Home Video Division. “Greater functional integration at the chip level will deliver cost reductions for manufacturers while giving viewers the advanced features and increased image quality they now expect, even in lower-cost boxes. The great success we have seen in China with the QAMi5516 can now be exported to other markets in Europe and Asia.”

The QAMi5107 is designed to address the requirements of the mainstream STB market, where it provides a unified, single-device platform for set-top boxes ranging from basic low-cost products up to enhanced middleware-based solutions. ST currently supports the high-volume cable STB market with the QAMi5516, STi5517 and STi5100, which have been designed into a very high proportion of set-top boxes worldwide. The new chip offers a smooth migration path from designs based on these and other OMEGA devices, thanks to ST’s proprietary STAPI (ST Application Programming Interface) driver support, full reference software and reference hardware.

Like the other OMEGA devices, the QAMi5107 integrates a transport de-multiplex block, the ST20 32-bit CPU, an audio/video MPEG-2 decoder, a digital video encoder, advanced security features and the enhanced display and graphics features. DVB descramblers in the transport de-multiplex block and Macrovision copy protection allow it to be used in cost-effective pay-TV services.

The QAMi5107 is built using ST’s low power, state-of-the-art technology and is offered in PBGA324 package. Engineering samples are available now, with volume production starting early in Q2 2007. Pricing is $7 in 100k quantities. Complete reference designs, software and development tools are also available now, offering to manufacturers a short design cycle and speeding the time-to-market of new set-top boxes.