NXP Tunes in PC TV with ‘World’s First’ Half-Mini Card Triple-Mode Global Receiver

(Product News, 12 Jun 2009)

NXP introduced the “world’s first” triple-mode PC TV tuner in a low-power half-mini card form factor, providing access to the widest range of global content for an improved viewing experience. The integrated NXP SAA7231 single-chip solution combines simultaneous decoding and capture of analog and digital TV broadcast signals with sophisticated power management, while supporting Windows 7 with Quad-Pulse remote control standards.

In supporting combinations of analog/ DVB-T/ ATSC or analog/ DVB-T/ DMBT-H reception, the NXP SAA7231 will allow viewers across North America, Europe and Asia to enjoy improved high definition TV content directly through a notebook PC. The NXP SAA7231 half-mini card design has been specifically developed to meet user demands for both improved functionality and enhanced battery life, offering a reduced form factor and lower power consumption for extended viewing and recording of TV on desktop and notebook PCs.

“By design, Windows 7 reflects customer’s top priorities and interests to make everyday tasks faster and simpler, for even the most demanding multimedia applications,” said Tony Mangefeste, Program Manager - TV, Video and Music Business Group at Microsoft. “The NXP SAA7231 tuner enables a great viewing experience on their Windows 7 PCs.”

“Media lovers everywhere are now looking beyond the home television for their viewing entertainment, and now expect to be able to access the content that they want, where they want it,” said Bert van de Wakker, General Manager, Product Line PC Systems NXP Semiconductors. “NXP is committed to ensuring that people can enjoy the best possible viewing experience. and our new PCTV platform now combines the widest access to content with lowest power consumption. The new SAA7231 will enable a new audience of entertainment fans to enjoy their favorite shows on notebook PC with best-ever picture quality and the confidence the PC will last as long as the programme.”

The hybrid (SAA7231 base) PC TV reception and capture device includes full IR remote control functionality for Windows Media Center in Windows 7 both the RC6 and Quad Pulse standards, providing the ideal foundation for PCs running Windows 7. The NXP SAA7231 also offers additional features including video improvements through 2D noise reduction, color decoding, FM radio reception and VBI data capture for the best-ever experience.

The SAA7231 accepts IF signals from up to three RF tuners for DVB-T, DVB-S and analog TV, and allows any combination of two broadcast stream signals to be decoded and captured concurrently. In addition to TV tuner signals, the SAA7231 also processes analog baseband audio/ video signals such as stereo, CVBS, S-video and YPbPr/RGB. For cost sensitive or space-restricted applications, the solution can share a single tuner for DVB-T and analog TV reception, with one system enabled at a time. The NXP SAA7231 is supported by a device driver package for Microsoft’s BDA for Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.