March 28, 2006 -
Integrating analog, digital, and cable tuners into 7 x 7 mm chip, MicroTuner(TM) MT2131 exceeds ATSC, NTSC, and Digital Cable Ready requirements. Unit receives frequencies in 48 MHz to 1.0 GHz range and converts selected channel to standard intermediate frequency between 30-57 MHz. Chip incorporates variable gain low noise amplifier, closed-loop AGC RF gain control, broadband power detectors, variable gain IF amplifier, ClearTune Filter, and FDC path for DCR applications.
(Archive News Story - Products mentioned in this Archive News Story may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)
Microtune's New 3-in-1 TV Tuner Breaks Cost Barrier in Bringing Benchmark-Setting Digital TV Performance to Mass Market
Manufacturers Can Deploy Microtune's New Tuner Chip across TVs of Every Size and Price Point to Deliver No-Compromise TV Reception for Analog, Digital and Cable Broadcasts and to Ease DTV Transition
PLANO, Texas--Feb. 27, 2006--Anticipating the massive technology transformation that will convert the North American TV market to all-digital broadcasts, MicrotuneŽ, Inc. (Nasdaq:TUNE) today unveiled a breakthrough 3-in-1 TV tuner engineered to drive very high-end digital TV reception quality into the cost-sensitive consumer TV mass market.
Integrating three tuners -- analog, digital and cable -- in a tiny chip smaller than a thumbtack, Microtune's new MicroTuner(TM) MT2131 tuner delivers benchmark-setting performance that exceeds all three existing U.S. TV requirements: ATSC, NTSC and Digital Cable Ready (DCR). Eliminating more than one hundred components from the silicon tuner bill of materials (BOM), the MT2131 slashes external BOM cost by sixty percent. By breaking through the sub-$3.00 cost barrier, it finally enables manufacturers to deploy a tuner with an unmatched level of performance across all TV models, sizes and price points -- from multi-tuner, giant-screen home theatres to small, affordable LCD TVs and inexpensive DTV set-top converter boxes.
Inventor of the single-chip silicon TV tuner, Microtune is leading the market in broadband silicon TV tuner chips with products deployed today in digital/analog TVs, personal video recorder (PVR) set-top boxes, cable modems, digital telephony modems, computers, portable DVD players, multimedia cards and PC-TV adaptors.
"Based on years of R&D investment, the MT2131 is engineered to be the industry's best TV tuner," said James A. Fontaine, Microtune's President and CEO. "It is the only device, module or silicon, to fully support North American analog and digital TV transmissions across either cable or terrestrial broadcasts. Manufacturers can use our single, flexible tuner to cost-effectively smooth the digital transition across all kinds of TV electronics, while bridging the multiple standards that co-exist today."
While the quality of the TV display has recently commanded a great deal of consumer focus, it is the tuner that actually sets the quality of the TV signal, the quality of picture and, ultimately, the quality of the TV experience for the user.
"Since 1998, the U.S. digital TV transition has been marred by complaints from broadcasters and consumers that the digital TV signal specified by ATSC does not work as well as expected," said Gerry Kaufhold, Principal Analyst with In-Stat. "As Congress and the FCC move toward complete cut-off of analog TV signals in February 2009, the viability of digital terrestrial services is under critical pressure to perform up to par. Tuners using a dual-conversion architecture approach, such as Microtune's newly announced MT2131 silicon tuner, are designed to provide the best-in-class reception needed to realize the inherent advantages and strengths of digital transmission." From a consumer perspective, the MT2131 is engineered to solve each of the three technical problems commonly identified by consumers as sources of DTV dissatisfaction -- TV picture break-up from interference, TV picture freezing and TV picture loss. In fact, it also significantly improves TV reception using in-attic antennas, another major consumer-related concern associated with today's digital broadcasts.
Unmatched Performance across U.S. Broadcast Standards
Based on Microtune's patented silicon tuner architecture, the MT2131 exceeds the expected performance defined by standards committees for the ATSC A/74 and Digital Cable Ready DTV specifications, while also delivering superior analog (NTSC) reception.
"The MT2131 outperformed tuner cans and far outpaced all other silicon tuners that were evaluated in our internal tests against the A/74 and DCR technical specifications and in tests conducted by leading TV manufacturers," Fontaine continued. "For us, the MT2131 is another milestone achievement in our history of innovating the industry's most advanced RF integrated circuits. It reflects our continuing success in raising the tuner performance bar for our customers across their TV, cable, computer and mobile products, while significantly reducing their RF solution costs."
Engineered with excellent sensitivity, the MT2131 also exceeded, by a wide margin, the sensitivity-measurement tests published by the FCC this past December in its study of a large group of retail DTV receivers(a). The MT2131's added margin in sensitivity translates directly into an increase in digital TV signal coverage area for broadcasters.
Sensitivity is one of the key RF technical concerns of TV manufactures; another is adjacent channel rejection. The MT2131 is engineered to achieve superior sensitivity while providing excellent linearity, typically a difficult challenge for RF, analog and mixed signal integrated circuits. The MT2131's linearity performance enables it to provide industry-leading adjacent channel rejection, a measure of the ability of the tuner to block an interfering broadcast transmitter in order to tune a much weaker signal from another transmitter farther away. The MT2131 also offers a superior composite distortion performance, key for DCR applications.
Microtune has published its internal benchmark tests of the MT2131 and a comparison of the MT2131 to the measurement test results of the FCC's study at: http://www.microtune.com.
MT2131 Multi-Tuner: Dramatic Integration and Cost Reduction
A single-chip device implemented in a 7mm x 7mm 48-pin QFN package, the MT2131 receives frequencies in the full 48 MHz to 1.0 GHz range and converts a selected channel to a standard intermediate frequency (IF) between 30 MHz and 57 MHz. The tuner works with all known analog and digital demodulators, giving manufacturers maximum design flexibility.
Characterized by a very high level of integration, the MT2131 incorporates several critical RF components on chip, including:
o Variable Gain Low Noise Amplifier
o Closed-Loop AGC RF Gain Control
o Integrated Broadband Power Detectors
o Variable Gain IF Amplifier
o Microtune's ClearTune Filter, and
o FDC Path for DCR applications
Further reducing costs, the MT2131 offers a single-ended input to eliminate an expensive external transformer balun.
With unmatched integration, the MT2131 shrinks tuner size by approximately 65% compared to traditional tuner cans, making it ideal for picture-in picture, personal video recorder or other multi-tuner architectures or for small, space-constrained TV electronics.
Additional information about the MT2131 tuner is available at: http://www.microtune.com.
Price and Availability
The MT2131 tuner is sampling now to select customers and is priced at less than $3.00 in volume quantities. To simplify evaluation and design for qualified customers, Microtune offers a MicroTuner MT2131 RF Evaluation Board and Reference Design.
Industry Comments
Melissa Yokom, Research Analyst, Digital TV Entertainment, IMS Research
"The transition of all North American TVs to the digital standard is a monumental challenge, and during the next ten years, IMS Research projects that more than 300 million receivers will need to be converted to ATSC. Complicating the transition, multiple terrestrial and cable broadcast standards will continue to co-exist for many years. A terrestrial digital TV tuner that successfully addresses performance and multi-standard challenges, and at a low price point, will offer critical electronics in proliferating digital technology across the mass marketplace."
Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
"The U.S. is inches away from completing the transition to DTV. We applaud the work done by the House and the Senate in coming together on this issue. This legislation will provide the much needed certainty to expedite our nation's transition to DTV in an effective and pro-consumer manner. CEA has long supported a hard cut-off date for analog broadcasts and is pleased with the decision for the analog spectrum to be returned to the federal government by February 17, 2009. This deadline will provide certainty to manufacturers, retailers, consumers and all others with a stake in the transition."
About Microtune
Microtune, Inc. is a silicon and subsystems company that designs and markets radio frequency (RF) solutions for the consumer and automotive electronics markets. Inventor of the MicroTuner(TM) single-chip broadband TV tuner, Microtune offers a portfolio of advanced tuner, amplifier and upconverter products that enable the delivery of information and entertainment across new classes of consumer electronics devices. The Company currently holds 59 U.S. patents for its technology. Founded in 1996, Microtune is headquartered in Plano, Texas, with key design and sales centers located around the world. The website is www.microtune.com.
Microtune is a registered trademark and MicroTuner is a trademark of Microtune, Inc. All other company and/or product names may be trade names, trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which they are associated. Company Information: Name: Microtune GmbH & Co. KG. Address: Marie Curie Strasse 1 City: Ingolstadt ZIP: 85055 Country: Germany Phone: +49.841.9378.011 FAX: +49.841.9378.010 http://www.microtune.com
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