NXP Chip Helps Eliminate Set-Top Boxes

A European television manufacturer is using an integratedcircuit from NXP Semiconductors to buildso-called "time shifting functions" directly into its new televisions.

Loewe AG is employing NXP's SAA7164 IC as asingle-chip shift engine, capturing analog signals and time-shifting them, thuseliminating the need for a conventional set-top box. Set-top boxes are used,especially in the U.S.,to capture video signals, digitize them and hold them for a prescribed amountof time so viewers can eliminate commercials during playback. The SAA7164eliminates the need for the set-top box because it can be incorporated insidethe TV set.

"There's anemerging trend in Europe and potentially inthe U.S.to build the time-shift directly into the TV, instead of using an externalset-top box," says Michael Malloy, a marketing manager for NXP.

TheSAA7164, previously noted for its incorporation in TV tuner cards for the PCspace, is being used for the first time in the consumer electronics space, NXPengineers say.

Because theSAA7164 is an analog device, it is expected to serve as a companion chip todigital time-shift ICs. NXP engineers say the device will continue to play arole even as the television industry transitions to digital TV.

"Anycustomer on the planet today who builds time-shift functionality into a productwill support both analog and digital for the foreseeable future," Malloysays.