Monday, September 16, 2013: Broadcom is the number one supplier for HD satellite set-top boxes worldwide and has a very high market share and unit volume in DTH MPEG4 segment. It provides the best Silicon solutions covering the basic, retail and advanced set-top boxes. Broadcom’s MPEG5 SD DTB allows the DTH companies to deliver more content to subscribers on a wider variety of channels with a better optimized channel bandwidth. They manufacture chips based on the operator requirements for the set-top boxes.
What is a Set-top Box (STB)?
A set-top box is an information device that connects to any external source of signal (like phone or ISDN) and a display device to convert the source signal into a form that can be displayed on the display device. They contain a tuner and are also referred to as set-top units (STU). They can also enhance the quality of the source signal and are used mainly in satellite television and cable television systems. The STBs fall into several categories starting from the simplest ones that receive television signals to the more complex ones that provide more advanced services like home networking, video conferencing, video-on-demand (VoD), IP telephony and high speed Internet TV services.
The STBs that are used with DAS (digital addressable cable TV systems) cannot be used with the DTH (Direct-to-home systems). Although both DAS and DTH are digital addressable systems, with DTH services the customers directly receive TV channels from satellite using a small dish antenna while in DAS they receive the channels through cable network.
Single chip DVB-C Tuner SD Cable SOC
It has integrated DVB-C tuner, demodulator, MPEG2 A/V decoder, RF modulator, A/V outputs and regulator controller on a single SoC. It provides fast channel changing ability and supports adaptive volume leveling. So it can allow the consumers to maintain a constant volume across commercials, programs and during channel changes. It has a smaller design with minimal external components so can be used in many different set-top boxes of varied sizes. They are cost efficient and have field proven software.
Features
*Ultra low cost
*Faster channel surfing
*Consistent volume
*Integrated third generation Silicon tuner
*Fast boot-up and ultra low power
*Small design
Single chip DVB-C Tuner HD AVC Cable SOC
It is designed for the basic high definition STBs with enhanced user experience. It enables USB digital video recording and provides interactive services and games. It also provides an immense user interface and guide.