Mirics Semiconductor has developed a hardware/software TV demodulation technique which it is coupling with its RF tuner to add a broadcast receiver to PCs.

The firm has opted for a software demodulator to support the broadcast standards which exist around the world. So that both analogue and digital broadcast standards (e.g. FM, DVB-T, ATSC, DTMB) are supported.

To support the existing MSi001 RF tuner, the company has developed a new USB interface chip which also does some TV signal demodulation. The bulk of the demodulation is carried out in software running on the PC's host processor.

According to company CEO Simon Atkinson, this typically will put 15-20 per cent loading on a 2.2GHz Intel Core Duo processor.

The initial market is TV tuner dongles but Atkinson also expects the FlexiTV chipset to be designed into the PC itself for a cost of less than $5.

See also: the Electronics Weekly focus on Digital TV, presenting a roundup of content related to digital TV technologies and developments.