Air HDTV with MxL603 tuner targets cord-cutting market
Article By : MaxLinear
The software-configurable MaxLinear’s MxL600 devices allow manufacturers to design a common front-end for all global broadcast standards.
As the cord-cutting market matures, more consumers are searching for a solution to access their local channels for sports, news and their favorite network shows. Thus, MaxLinear’s MxL603 global terrestrial tuner has been chosen for Air HDTV, an over-the-air (OTA) antenna/set-top box (STB) designed by Wireless Innovations Group.
The MxL6xx family of tuners, which includes the MxL601, MxL602, MxL603, MxL605 MxL608 and MxL661 offer low power consumption of 350mW or less in typical applications. The very low power consumption and compact 4mm x 4mm footprint in a standard 24pin QFN package make it possible for customers to design ultra-small form factors and to support multi-tuner applications.
The Air HDTV smart antenna/STB, which debuted at CES, provides ATSC television reception for “cord-cutters,” consumers who prefer Internet-based “over-the-top” (OTT) video services instead of cable or satellite pay TV. Air HDTV is complementary to existing OTT platforms like Roku, AppleTV, Chromecast and DIRECTV NOW, but adds the missing element of live, free local broadcast channels. Air HDTV enables up to two channels to be received simultaneously and streamed over a Wi-Fi network to smart TVs, PCs, tablets or mobile phones throughout the home. The Air HDTV features MaxLinear’s MxL603 tuner, which is part of the company’s MxL600 “super radio” family of 4mm x 4mm, 65nm pure digital CMOS tuners with superior tuning sensitivity. The software-configurable MxL600 devices allow manufacturers to design a common front-end for all global broadcast standards. Supported standards include: PAL, SECAM, NTSC, DVB-T/T2, ISDB-T, ISDB-Tmm, ATSC, ATSC M/H, DTMB, ITU-T J.83 Annex A (DVB-C)/B (US Cable)/C (Japan).
Wireless Innovations also selected the XCode 5516 SoC from ViXS Systems to provide dual transport stream 1080i HD-to-1080p HD transcoding. The XCode 5516 also features USB and 10/100 Ethernet networking capabilities. The device is based on the ViXS CordCutterTV Dual solution platform, which features ATSC/DVB OTA reception options, streaming via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, storage interfaces including eMMC, SD Card, USB and SATA, support for a networked DVR, and support for iOS and Android clients.
For media portability, the Air HDTV uses software from Morega Systems to enable streamed content to be available on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.