NXP Semiconductors has become the first semiconductor company to implement the new Dolby Multistream Decoder—also known as the Dolby MS10 Multistream Decoder—with its TV543 iDTV single-chip system solution. The Dolby Multistream Decoder is a licensable multiformat audio decoding technology that supports Dolby Digital Plus and HE AAC–based Dolby Pulse in a single package for HDTVs and set-top boxes for playback of content from traditional broadcast and operator sources, as well as the Internet, USB devices, game consoles, and PCs.

The NXP TV543 features an integrated MPEG-4/H.264 decoder to enable reception and decoding of MPEG-4/H.264 SD and HD content; IP/Internet content delivery to the home; and the new conditional access CI+ security standard—all on a single-chip DTV platform.

The Dolby Multistream Decoder offers full compatibility with Dolby metadata and consumers’ existing DVD–based home theater systems with all transmission formats. It supports multichannel (transcoder) for Dolby Pulse in addition to Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus decoding and conversion—one Dolby Digital output for all input formats. It also offers support for audio description services delivered "receiver-mix" style using two simultaneous instances of Dolby Pulse, Dolby Digital, or Dolby Digital Plus decoders, respectively—all for the price of a single decoder instance. Fially, the decoder has the ability to decode AAC, HE AAC, and HE AAC v.2 bitstreams.

Dolby Multistream Decoder implementation and system kits are available starting today.