First Demonstration in Brazil of Transmission and Reception of High-Definition Digital Terrestrial TV
São Paulo, Brazil - November 21, 2005 - For the first time in Brazil, the transmission of a digital terrestrial TV (DTT) signal in high-definition television (HDTV) format was publicly demonstrated from a transmitter to an end-user terminal. The demonstration was part of the STMicroelectronics 'Day in Brazil' in São Paulo, last Friday, November 18, 2005, in which senior ST management presented the Company's broad range of products, technologies and applications expertise to Brazilian electronics managers and engineers drawn from customers, academic, research and government communities.
The demonstration was made by the TAR (Terminal de Acesso Referência) Consortium, led by the LSI/USP (Laboratório de Sistemas Integráveis / Universidade de São Paulo), in collaboration with ST and the Mackenzie University, and shows the successful completion of the first phase in the integration of a system for Brazilian digital terrestrial TV.
The new DTT platform supports HDTV, MPEG-4 video-compression technology and Linux, and uses a modulation technique that supports the robustness, flexibility and quality required for digital TV broadcast and reception in Brazil.
Professor Marcelo Knorich Zuffo from the LSI/USP, said: "We are satisfied with this successful demonstration in this important milestone for the first phase of the integration. This has been an important proof-of-concept vehicle that has verified our high-definition digital terrestrial TV platform for Brazil."
Professor Gunnar Bedicks Jr. from the Mackenzie University, said: "A key ingredient in making this Brazilian digital TV milestone happen has been the close co-operation between academia, the Mackenzie University and the LSI/USP, and the industrial world, represented by the world-leader in digital set-top box chips, STMicroelectronics."
Marco Carilli, Emerging Markets Region, Central Labs & Technical Marketing Director of STMicroelectronics, concluded: "The demonstration marks a first important accomplishment of the DTT platform and shows the results of focused and effective cooperation among two leading Brazilian Universities and ST. Over the years, ST has developed an advanced culture of cooperation with partners, whether they are in industrial, research or academic fields. In addition to this, the demo has also proved the capabilities of ST's STB7100 decoder technology, which supports a set of advanced set-top-box features in a single chip, enabling very fast system-level development, even with new hardware and software components, such as those developed by LSI/USP and Mackenzie University to address the Brazilian DTT requirements".
About LSI/USP
The Laboratory of Integrated Systems, established in 1975 at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, has its research and development activities centered on computer integrated systems. As a pioneer in several research topics, LSI has strong partnership with industry and intense cooperation with foreign institutions.
Among the current 250 LSI members, there are 22 professors from the University of São Paulo, 43 research fellows and staff members, 115 graduate students, 64 undergraduate students and several permanent foreign collaborators.
About the Mackenzie University
Mackenzie University is one of the most important educational institutions in Brazil. It was founded in 1894, is located in São Paulo, and has around 36,000 students.
Mackenzie Digital TV Research Centre is a reference in Brazil regarding signal tests simulation for different platforms, such as: Satellite, MMDS, Cable, IPTV and Mobile TV. Mackenzie University was selected by the Brazilian Government to develop the Modulation and Transmission standards for the Brazilian Digital TV System.
About STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2004, the Company's net revenues were $8.76 billion and net earnings were $601 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.
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