Design wins for home entertainment receiver systems

“Adding HDMI eARC to our cutting-edge Elite line of A/V receivers gives our customers a forward-compatible home theater solution, designed to support enhanced 4K and 8K televisions of the future,” said Akira Takahashi, Director of Pioneer & Onkyo Corporation. “With HDMI eARC, our A/V Receiver can play surround-sound audio, including high-bitrate audio, from the television’s built-in streaming apps, as well as from devices attached directly to the TV.”

Marshall Goldberg, Product Marketing Manager, Lattice Semiconductor, added: “We are pleased that Pioneer selected the Lattice eARC ICs to help them deliver an uncompromised A/V experience to consumers. Lattice worked with leading companies to develop eARC to prevent forward-compatibility issues as the HDMI standard evolves. 

“Our eARC ICs are designed to work with any existing HDMI transmitter or receiver IC and any version of HDMI. They are part of Lattice’s comprehensive portfolio of low-power FPGAs and connectivity ASSPs designed to make prosumer A/V products smarter, sleeker and longer lasting.”

The new eARC feature in HDMI Specification 2.1 solves the problem of forward compatibility between the AVR and newer televisions. The eARC feature offers higher audio quality and simpler connectivity features that improve upon existing home theater interconnections. It is also backward-compatible with the previous HDMI-ARC specification and supports all HDMI Home Theater Formats, including Dolby Atmos and DTS-X.

Released in November 2017, the HDMI Specification 2.1 is the most recent update of the HDMI specification and supports a range of higher video resolutions and refresh rates including 8K60 and 4K120. Dynamic HDR formats are also supported, and bandwidth capability is increased to 48Gbps. Because HDMI 2.1 features will roll out gradually in products released over the next several years, it's important to have a way to connect audio devices which preserves compatibility. 

Using the eARC feature, the AVR does not need to connected in-between the Source device and television. For example, if a gamer purchases a new TV and game console with HDMI 2.1 VRR (variable refresh rate), an AVR with eARC will not need to be upgraded. The eARC feature thus preserves the AVR's compatibility with new televisions as these new HDMI 2.1 features roll out.

Lattice has a broad range of small form factor, low-power FPGAs, including the CrossLink and iCE FPGA families, to enable connectivity and computing in prosumer A/V equipment such as HDTVs, home theater receivers and AR/VR headsets. 

In addition to its HDMI eARC receiver ASSPs, Lattice offers a range of port processors and video processors that reduce the workload for the TV’s primary processor, ensure interoperability and faster switching between device ports, enhance picture quality, and upscale lower-resolution video content to UltraHD (4K). 

These FPGAs and ASSPs help prosumer A/V device OEMs create products that deliver uncompromised performance for the ultimate consumer A/V experience.