Industry's first fully integrated 45nm SoC platform from NXP for HD DVRs and STBs

EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS: NXP Semiconductors unveiled a new family of highly integrated system-on-chip products enabling a complete range of high-performance solutions for mainstream HD DVRs and set-top box platforms in global satellite, cable and IPTV networks.

Representing the world'’s first fully integrated 45nm set-top box SoC platform incorporating multi-channel broadcast receivers, the NXP PNX847x/8x/9x delivers advanced broadcast decoding, media processing and graphics rendering technologies.

This comprehensive feature set provides an optimized system that significantly reduces manufacturer bill-of-materials costs and power consumption and also ensures advanced picture quality for an improved home entertainment experience.

Having developed the industry’s first 45nm digital TV platform, NXP is maintaining its leadership in manufacturing innovation by introducing the world’s first 45nm set-top box SoC solution integrating multi-channel broadcast receivers.

The new NXP STB SoC family includes a number of models designed for different operator network categories, including the PNX849x for satellite set-top boxes, the PNX848x for cable and the PNX847x for telco and over-the-top on-line VOD solutions.

“The digital home is currently undergoing an exciting transformation, where advanced technologies previously limited to high-end devices are becoming increasingly available to mainstream users,” said Christos Lagomichos, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Home Business Unit, NXP Semiconductors.

“The new NXP system-on-chip family helps operators and manufacturers capitalize on some of the most exciting market trends, including personalized multi-screen services, while ensuring rich navigation and improved multimedia and Internet TV experiences. In addition, 45nm technology advancements significantly boost power efficiency, facilitating early compliance with emerging industry regulation.”

Using an innovative power management architecture specifically designed to maximize energy efficiency, the PNX847x/8x/9x SoC family facilitates STB compliance with the latest EnergyStar and EC Code of Conduct regulations.

With a dedicated on-chip microcontroller resource to coordinate power management for the entire system, the NXP PNX847x/8x/9x family delivers the flexibility to enable opportunistic use-case based power optimization as well as ultra-low power stand-by operation to implement less than one watt STB complete system level standby power modes.

The NXP PNX847x/8x/9x also features an advanced Imagination Technologies POWERVR 3D graphics processing unit (GPU) to render advanced programming navigation user interfaces, games and other 3D content. The POWERVR GPU provides a mature and proven OpenGL 2.0 compliant 3D HW platform that is supported by an extensive eco-system of tools, software and 3D content developers.

Based on a powerful 1250DMIPS ARM Cortex-A9 Superscalar applications CPU architecture, the PNX847x/8x/9x delivers advanced system level performance for secure, multi-room DVR video streaming on home networks and for fast execution of Java-based STB middleware engines.

Combined with a rich set of hardware and DSP based content decoding resources, the ARM Cortex-A9 CPU’s internet software technology eco-system delivers industry leading performance for user interface environments based on Adobe Flash and web browser technologies.

Dedicated hardware for flexible content format decoding along side ARM architecture optimizations for Javascript and Flash components ensures that the PNX847x/8x/9x can deliver the most responsive and robust user experience for on-line VOD and other content delivered via the internet.

The system-on-chip also capitalizes on NXP’s industry leading Digital TV technology innovations, featuring advanced picture processing technology. High performance de-interlacing, picture scaling, noise reduction, color management and image compositing engines generate 1080P60 video display outputs with Blu-ray image quality.

NXP’s advanced SoC integration enables a complete system hardware design to be realized in some configurations with the addition of only DRAM and flash memory ICs.

For more complex STB system implementations, NXP combines the SoC in a chip-set with tuner, modem DAA line-side device and card-reader interface ICs, to deliver a very low system bill of materials. A family of fully engineered set-top box reference hardware system and software development kit will be provided for product evaluation and system integration.

The new NXP PNX847x/8x/9x will be available in sample quantities in Q4 2009.