Satellite SoC eases STB design complexity

Broadcom Corp. has introduced a single-channel, multi-format high definition (HD) satellite receiver chip that enables manufacturers to develop low-cost satellite STBs. The BCM7325 satellite SoC is manufactured in 65nm process technology and is said to offer the highest level of functionality, fully integrating a single tuner/demodulator, as well as the latest advanced video coding (AVC) decoder that supports multiple video formats.

By reducing the number of components required to develop satellite STB products, Broadcom claims to reduce power consumption by more than 50 percent compared to competing solutions, as well as lowering the system BOM cost and reducing the complexity and size of next-generation satellite STBs.

The single-chip BCM7325 satellite receiver supports worldwide standards for direct broadcast satellite (DBS) transmission systems based on DVB-S2, 8PSK, Turbo Code, and is backward compatible with the DVB-S standard. With capabilities that go beyond current DVB-S2 silicon implementations for both integration and performance, the BCM7325 offers STB manufacturers a significantly lower cost solution for the development of DVB-S2 capable STBs, said Broadcom.

BCM7325 operates on a dual-threaded MIPS CPU core running at 333MHz resulting in over 550DMips of performance. The chip is designed to support UMA and non-UMA memory architectures, utilizing a 400MHz clock, 32bit wide DDR2 memory I/F for enhanced performance.

The BCM7325 device supports several interfaces for TV output on-chip including HDMI, baseband composite, component or S-Video, and incorporates Broadcom's advanced 2D graphics engine that enables true studio-quality text and graphics.

The BCM7325 satellite receiver SoC is sampling to early access customers. A fully supported reference design (BCM97325) is also available, and is offered with complete software source code, schematics and Gerber files.

- Gina Roos
eeProductCenter