Royal Philips Electronics announced its Nexperia One Chip Set-Top Box (STB) Engine for satellite STBs. Philips has developed this device, the PNX8327, to offer STB manufacturers a solution that reduces the total cost of ownership for entry-level satellite STBs – from development and manufacturing to logistics and handling costs. The single chip combines MPEG2 video decoding, satellite channel decoding, a silicon tuner and passive components for satellite STBs that deliver digital satellite services to the Connected Consumer.

The market for free-to-air satellite STBs is steadily growing, with In-Stat predicting the market to grow from the 33 million units sold in 2004 to 45 million units in 2009. “We will continue to see a market opportunity for digital satellite STBs, especially in India and China,” said Michelle Abraham, senior analyst with In-Stat. “Solutions such as Philips’ Nexperia One Chip STB will help manufacturers to compete in the market, particularly in the more cost-sensitive regions, by simplifying development and lowering the cost of ownership.”

Based on Philips’ system-in-package (sbSiP) technology, the PNX8327 integrates the PNX8316 MPEG2 source decoder, the TDA10086 channel decoder, the TDA8262 silicon tuner and more than a hundred passive components.

Availability
Samples of Philips’ PNX8327 and the complete system solution (the STB210) will be available at the end of Q2.