Hitachi, MaxLinear partner for multi-tuner TV apps

CARLSBAD, USA: MaxLinear Inc., a leading provider of integrated radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal, integrated circuits for broadband communication applications, announced that its low-power TV tuner ICs have been selected by Hitachi Media Electronics Co. for its line-up of multi-tuner television solutions.

The MaxLinear-equipped XP and HP models of Hitachi’s Wooo brand of high-performance LCD televisions, now available in Japan, embrace the digital future with multi channel receiver options, integrated HDD recorders and the lowest power consumption in the industry. Japan is set to terminate analog broadcasts on July 24, 2011. With the majority of Japanese households already prepared for digital television reception, the market demand is great for feature-rich televisions that support simultaneous watch and record functions.

“Partnering with MaxLinear allows us to remain at the forefront of technological development with highly compact and low power multi-tuner modules, while optimizing our product qualification time and manufacturing process,” said Mr. Katsumasa Yokouchi, Deputy Department Manager of the High Frequency Module Engineering Dept. in Hitachi Media’s Components Business Division.

“Multi-tuner television applications uniquely benefit from MaxLinear’s size and low power advantages,” said John Graham, Vice President of Marketing for MaxLinear. “The majority of Japanese televisions now integrate multiple tuners and demodulators, a trend that we are enabling with the lowest power RF solution that delivers uncompromised performance.”

Digital TV reception in Japan now exceeds 50 million tuners annually and continues to see rapid adoption across a broad range of appliances from mobile phones and automobile navigation systems to BluRay recorders and multi-tuner digital televisions.

MaxLinear’s pure digital CMOS implementation enables full scalability in any reception standard and for any number of channels. Unlike some competitive products that rely on multi-chip SiP technologies, MaxLinear’s RF systems are based on fully monolithic implementations for the highest reliability and lowest cost structure. Multi chip technologies are far less reliable and not scalable at the same level as monolithic solutions.

The highly integrated MxL135RF device is shipping in mass production in million-unit quantities per month. MxL135RF exceeds the exacting requirements of receiver performance guidelines mandated by ARIB for Japan and ABNT for Brazil. Available in a 5x5mm 32QFN package, the MxL135RF consumes less than 350 mW of power to receive full resolution ISDB-T and SBTVD-T broadcast signals.