NDS and IBM kick-off spate of set-top dealsRichard WilsonDigital set-top box announcements at last week's Cable & Satellite Mediacast show in London included the plans of NDS to integrate its security system into IBM's set-top box designs.
"The collaboration between NDS and IBM will help drive the secure introduction of new applications such as digital video broadcast and recording," said Dr. Abe Peled, chief executive of NDS.
The system is aimed at allowing broadcasters to deliver multiple digital channels with conditional access to specific channels.
Also at Mediacast, Infineon Technologies unveiled a single-chip three band tuner IC for set-top-boxes, integrated digital TVs, cable-modems and cable-tuners. The TUA6030 is the RF front end for both analogue and digital terrestrial and cable transmissions. It covers the VHF-low, VHF-high and UHF bands.
At Mediacast Infineon demonstrated a two band chip, along with demodulator and mixer IC, receiving a live DVB-T signal.
Meanwhile, two tuner ICs and a demodulator chip for set-top box designs were announced by Mitel Semiconductor. The tuners, SL1935 and SL2100, are for satellite and cable applications, while the MT350 is for terrestrial COFDM demodulation.
The SL1935 is a direct conversion tuner with very low phase noise. The SL2100 cable device includes both up and down conversion.