Microtune has announced the industry's first silicon-based 'Plug and Play' Tuner-Receiver reference design. Supporting the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) recently approved 'Plug and Play' rules, the Reference Design, the MT2111-PNP-RD, allows TV manufacturers as well as Integrated Tuner Demodulator (ITD), Plasma Display Panel (PDP) and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) suppliers to add cable compatibility to their digital TV products.

An official release informs that in effect, the Reference Design, based on Microtune's MicroTuner MT2111 single-chip tuner, provides manufacturers with a solution for next generation TV appliances having digital/analog cable and terrestrial reception capability. At the same time, it permits them to cut the space, reduce the component cost and accelerate the time-to-market of these advanced features.

The 'Plug and Play' rules, initially proposed in a Memorandum of Understanding by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), were adopted by the FCC on 10 September 2003. The 'Plug and Play' initiative is a significant development for consumers planning to purchase a digital TV set. With its new 'Plug and Play' Reference Design, Microtune is taking the lead in offering a cable-compatible solution for digital TV transmission that will benefit both TV manufacturers and the TV viewing public adds the release.

The MT2111-PNP-RD Reference Design is the first of its kind targeted to meet the stringent RF technical parameters of both the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) and Cablelabs OpenCable requirements. As a result, it is the only solution featuring a single silicon tuner to enable the reception of analog and digital television signals from both terrestrial (over-the-air) and cable.

The reference design features Microtune's MicroTuner MT2111 silicon tuner, its MT1110 broadband amplifier and MT1233 IF amplifier and was designed to operate with industry-leading demodulators. The Reference Design offers a single, common front-end solution, based on a small silicon footprint that is characterized by its completeness, flexibility and cost-effective implementation.

The reference design is engineered with the goal of delivering superior cable and terrestrial reception in a low-cost, low-risk solution. With the MicroTuner MT2111 dual-conversion silicon tuner at its core, the Reference Design is engineered to enable superior reception performance due to its excellent channel selectivity and robustness against adjacent, image and other taboo channels, while maintaining compatibility with the most demanding cable networks. When integrated into TV sets, the Reference Design is engineered to permit manufacturers to develop products that provide consumers superior, stable pictures and multi-modal operation.

In addition to the reference design, Microtune offers other RF silicon and subsystems products that are currently enabling applications advancing the state-of-the-art in digital TV. Led by the Company's patented single-chip MicroTuner tuners, the product portfolio also includes the MT4000 series of ATSC/NTSC and DVB-T tuners and the new MT7106 DVB-T tuner. These products are engineered to deliver top-of-the-line RF performance and system integration flexibility. Today, they are implemented in a wide range of products, spanning digital cable set-top boxes, satellite set-top boxes, integrated tuner-demodulators and PC/TV and PC/HDTV cards states the release.

Microtune is a silicon and subsystems company that designs and markets radio frequency (RF)-based solutions for the worldwide broadband communications and transportation electronics markets. Inventors of the MicroTuner single-chip broadband tuner, the company offers a portfolio of advanced tuner, amplifier, and transceiver products that enable the delivery of information and entertainment across new classes of consumer electronics devices.