Date: 21/06/2010

New reference design for IP enabled DTVs from Micrel and Zoran

Micrel and Zoran have made available a complete IP enabled DTV reference design. It is based on Micrel's KSZ8851-16MLL single-port embedded Ethernet MAC-PHY controller chip and Zoran's SupraHD 787 ATSC/NTSC processor.

"Micrel's single chip network solution when working with Zoran's single chip DTV processor delivers a reference platform that enables a low power, high throughput networking solution for our customers," said Lih Chang, Product Marketing Director, Home Entertainment division at Zoran Corporation.

"Micrel worked closely with Zoran to create a reference design that meets stringent performance requirements for this demanding consumer application," noted Wiren Perera, Micrel's director of Ethernet. "Zoran's leadership position in the consumer electronics multimedia market makes it an ideal partner for Micrel to address the burgeoning demands of IP connected media devices."

The hardware module of the reference design supports the traditional video and audio interfaces, as well as three HDMI 1.3 deep color ports. It accepts VGA input from a personal computer, as well as six pairs of analog audio inputs. For the output interfaces, the hardware module can directly drive an LCD panel, with up to 10-bit color. Other outputs are L/R audio for its internal speakers and SPDIF for multi-channel output to an external audio receiver.

Micrel's KSZ8851-16MLL combines a Fast Ethernet MAC-PHY with a generic bus host processor interface in a small package. It can achieve a throughput of up to 80Mbps enabling up to 4 HD streams.