Parade Technologies offers world'’s fastest, lowest power four-to-one HDMI switch IC

SAN JOSE, USA: —Parade Technologies Ltd, a leading video display and interface IC supplier, announced the world'’s fastest and lowest power four-to-one HDMI™ switch.

The PS461 incorporates four HDMI receivers and one HDMI transmitter, which enable TVs to select a video stream from among four possible input ports. The device complies with the latest HDMI specification—HDMI 1.4a—a version that now supports 3D video over HDMI at 60fps in 1080p.

Hisense, one of China'’s leading TV manufacturers, is using the new PS461 in several digital TV models targeted at the Australian, European and North American markets.

“Consumers now expect multiple HDMI inputs on their TVs in order to accommodate set-top receivers, game players and DVD players. Consumers also expect very minimal delays when they switch between HDMI inputs,” explained Jianchun Zhang, vice GM and senior engineer, Multimedia R&D Center, Hisense. “Parade'’s new HDMI switch device offers extremely fast switching times that satisfy consumer expectations.”

The PS461 incorporates Parade’s QuickPort™ technology, which pre-authenticates all four HDMI input channels using on-chip HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) cipher engines and encryption key. This reduces delay to less than one second when switching between any of the four active HDMI receivers. The highly integrated device also includes on-chip non-volatile memory for four HDMI or DVI EDIDs (extended display identification data), reducing the need for external memories to save system bill-of-materials cost.

China’'s leading DTV manufacturer using QuickPort technology
Hisense maintains a world-class R&D center that designs more than 100 Digital TV products each year. Domestically, the company has attained the top market share for flat panel TVs in China for the past seven years. Internationally, the company’s televisions are sold through mass-market retailers. Hisense manufactures more than 10 million televisions annually.

"“Parade worked very closely with leading TV OEMs, like Hisense, to develop our new HDMI switching IC. With an advanced engineering team and intimate knowledge of consumer needs, Hisense is delivering innovative DTV designs to the global market,”" said Jimmy Chiu, VP of Marketing at Parade Technologies. “"Our design goal for the PS461 was to meet Hisense’s rigorous requirements for fast switching times and very low power consumption.”"

The PS461 consumes a maximum power consumption of 1 Watt. The device incorporates a switching regulator, which enables the chip’s core logic to run at 1.2V while connected to an external 3.3V source. This capability reduces both power consumption and bill-of-materials cost.

A complete solution for TV OEMs, the PS461 is compliant with HDMI 1.4a and has achieved 3D CTS (compliance test specification) certification. Transmitting data rates up to 2.25 Gb/s, the chip supports UXGA, WUXGA and 1080p at 60fps display resolutions with 8/10/12-bit deep color. The device integrates a CEC (consumer electronics control) buffer for transmitting control signals between the TV monitor and video input systems. The device also features on-chip adaptive equalization, which automatically compensates for signal loss over cable lengths of varying lengths.

The PS461 is in production now, and is available in a 100-pin halogen-free TQFP package. The PS461 is available for $1.55/ea. in high volume.