Broadcom, Skyworth-Hitune build HD STBs for Gehua Cable

CCBN 2010, BEIJING, CHINA: Broadcom Corp. has announced a partnership with Skyworth-Hitune, a leading Chinese set-top box (STB) manufacturer, to deliver high definition (HD) set-top boxes to Beijing Gehua Cable, a leading Chinese cable provider.

This collaboration between Broadcom and Skyworth-Hitune addresses the growing demand for HD cable TV services in Beijing with advanced HD viewing, 1080p support and improved picture quality.

Skyworth-Hitune selected the highly integrated, multi-format Broadcom BCM7403 HD set-top box system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution to deliver high definition STBs to Gehua subscribers in Beijing. Broadcom will be demonstrating high definition set-top box technology at this week's China Content Broadcasting Network (CCBN) Conference in its booth #3501.

Gehua Cable has deployed over 300,000 HD set-top boxes to date and is planning to convert another 2.3 million cable subscribers to high definition by 2012, according to Gehua Cable.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) is supporting the efforts of cable operators throughout China to convert their subscribers to HD TV programming.

Broadcom's field proven HD set-top box technology enables manufacturers to build next generation HD cable, satellite and IP set-top boxes that deliver best-in-class video quality, support multi formats, and offer a customizable software platform.

Broadcom BCM7403 HD STB SoC solution, customized for the Chinese market, features:
* Integrated HD AVC (H.264, MPEG-4), MPEG-2, DivX®, and VC-1 digital video decoders enabling STB manufacturers to cost effectively develop extremely high performance STBs that integrate the most advanced hardware features and functionality to securely decode, store, and share multiple types of HDTV, video-on-demand, Internet and digital music content.

* A data transport processor, HD video decoder technology, an advanced audio decoder, 2D graphics processing, high quality video scaling and motion adaptive de-interlacing, six video digital-to-analog converters (DACs), stereo high-fidelity, audio DACs, a 450 DMIPS host CPU, 64-bit DDR-400 memory interface, advanced security, dual USB 2.0 ports and HDMI 1.3a support.

* Strong local design engineering support that includes engineering teams located in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai.