MaxLinear extends China cable market presence with Skyworth STB design win

CARLSBAD, USA: MaxLinear Inc., a leading provider of integrated radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal integrated circuits for broadband communication applications, announced a major Chinese cable video set-top box design win with market leader Shenzhen Skyworth Digital Technology Co. Ltd.

Skyworth will use the MxL203RF in a new digital-to-analog (DTA) converter for the Chinese cable market. The new STB will come to market in time to help Chinese cable operators manage the switch to digital cable as the country continues to shut off all of its analog cable services by the year 2015. Analysts estimate that more than 70 million cable customers in the country still need to change to digital cable television.

Until this year, Chinese set-top box manufacturers have relied on bulky, high power and costly can tuners for their designs. However, as the country now switches to digital TV service even outside of major cities, Skyworth and other leading manufacturers are beginning to choose silicon tuners for their systems based upon the smaller size, lower power and resulting lower bill of materials.

Manufacturers had been hesitant to use silicon tuners in the past due to perceived lower performance than can tuners, but MaxLinear has conducted extensive in-country field trials with its Chinese partners to prove the performance, reliability and cost-effectiveness of the MxL203RF.

The MxL203RF is DVB-C silicon tuner based on MaxLinear’s low power digital CMOS technology. The highly integrated device draws only 400mW, yet includes all broadband input filtering, channel filtering and loop through. It’s a single-die tuner that comes in a 5mm x 5mm QFN32 package. It offers global ITU DVB-C cable standard support.

“Expanding our China cable market presence with Skyworth is a major milestone for MaxLinear. DTAs are low-cost, high-volume systems that, for many customers, are their first experience with digital TV, which means performance is crucial. These factors make this design win an ideal application for the benefits of the MxL203RF,” said Kishore Seendripu, president and CEO of MaxLinear. “Skyworth is a pioneer in bringing this technology to market in China and we’re grateful for the company’s confidence in the performance and reliability of the MxL203RF.”

“The analog shut off in China outside the major cities will provide an exciting market opportunity as millions of customers are switched to digital cable television. As the Chinese market leaders, Skyworth is moving aggressively to have the right products on the market for this occasion,” said Zhang Enli, vice director of Skyworth Digital’s R&D Center. “We have collaborated with MaxLinear because it is the true leader in digital CMOS tuners which have all of the performance, cost, power and size advantages we wanted for our products.”