- World's smallest TV tuner achieving the lowest BOM cost,
Targeting Chinese TV/set-top box manufacturers and the global terrestrial/cable TV market

October 31, 2014 – Silicon Labs, a global supplier of semiconductor TV tuners, announced the release of its field-proven 6th generation high-performance TV tuner ICs. Silicon Labs’ new Si2151 and Si2141 TV tuner products target the global hybrid and digital TV markets and support both digital and analog video broadcasting, complying with all global terrestrial and cable TV standards. The newly released Si2151/41 TV tuners leverage Silicon Labs’ industry-leading architecture, refined over five generations, and enhance TV and set-top box (STB) designs by providing developers with unrivaled linearity and reception sensitivity, the world’s smallest footprint, the lowest bill of materials (BOM), and ultra-low power consumption.

The Si2151/41 product family provides ideal and cost-effective silicon TV tuner solutions to global TV manufacturers, including those in China. According to DisplaySearch, China has led the global market in TV shipments for four consecutive years. Flat-panel TV shipments in China (LCD and plasma models) are projected to grow from 57 million units in 2013 to 62 million units in 2017. Currently, Chinese TV manufacturers account for 23% of global flat-panel TV shipments. Ultra HD TV sets are predicted to grow rapidly from 1.3 million units in 2013 to 23 million units in 2017, and Chinese manufacturers are expected to supply more than half of the UHD TV shipments.

Silicon Labs' Si2151/41 tuner products fully comply with the Chinese GB/T 26686-2011 standard for digital terrestrial TV receivers and demonstrate sufficient margins relative to the minimum performance requirements defined by the GB/T 26686-2011 standard. While competitor Silicon tuner products provide superior margins for the Chinese GB/T 26686-2011 standard only in the VHF-Low frequency band, Si2151/41 tuner products provide superior margins for this standard across the VHF-Low, VHF-High, and UHF frequency bands. Since broadcasting currently used in China utilizes the UHF band (where Si2151/41 tuners outperform other Silicon TV tuners), the margin in the UHF band can be interpreted as a reception performance advantage that consumers can actually perceive.

The Si2151 tuner was certified by the China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI) and the Advanced Digital TV Test Center (ADTC) as a TV tuner solution that fully supports the Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcasting (DTMB) standard for mobile and fixed TV broadcast receiving terminals used in China, Hong Kong, and Macau. The Si2151 was the only CESI-certified TV tuner presented at the Information Technology Standardization (ITS) Forum held on July 16, 2014. CESI is a Chinese government agency that oversees DTMB standards.

Available in the smallest package (3 mm x 3 mm QFN) in the TV industry, the Si2151/41 device is the industry's smallest commercially available TV tuner IC. This ultra-small package enables the realization of the smallest footprint among currently commercialized silicon TV tuners, measuring 0.86 cm², with a minimal BOM. As technological trends in the TV market pursue multi-tuner applications while demanding increasingly smaller modules and smaller onboard tuner designs, the technical strengths of ultra-low power consumption as well as a small footprint make the Si2151/41 tuner the clear choice for current and future TV and set-top box designs.

The Si2151/41 tuner has the lowest BOM cost among all terrestrial/cable TV tuners currently in mass production. Unlike competitor TV tuner products, the Si2151/41 device does not require a balun at the RF input stage and integrates all tracking filter inductors, dramatically reducing system cost and complexity. Because the Si2151/41 tuner does not require external power transistors for single-supply operation and eliminates the need for external inductors for power filtering, it consequently enables the most cost-effective and highest-performance onboard TV tuner design. Because it provides improved noise figure across the band and superior immunity to interfering signals such as LTE transmission without external filtering, the Si2151/41 family supports robust reception performance in real-world situations worldwide.

James Stansberry, Senior Vice President and General Manager of IoT and Broadcast Video Products at Silicon Labs, stated, “Features such as an ultra-small footprint, low BOM cost, lowest power consumption, and best RF performance are the reasons why nine out of the top ten TV manufacturers worldwide have standardized on using Silicon Labs’ proven TV tuner technology. Silicon Labs TV tuners are now in their sixth generation.” He added, “Silicon Labs continues to lead the broadcast industry in TV tuner shipments, having shipped over 350 million units to date and recording a market share twice that of its largest competitor.”

The Si2151/41 product family uses the same application programming interface (API) as Silicon Labs' entire TV tuner portfolio. This identical software API accelerates the learning curve for TV designers migrating from hybrid HDTVs worldwide to localized platforms and STB designs. Simple application circuitry common to all Silicon Labs TV tuners enables immediate cost savings in onboard designs.

About Silicon Labs' industry-leading TV tuner architecture
Silicon Labs is a pioneer in the industry's first single-chip silicon TV tuner designed to outperform existing discrete tuner solutions. Based on dozens of patented and pending technologies, Silicon Labs' Digital Low IF architecture solves the challenges arising from hybrid analog and digital reception and multiple regional standards while realizing superior TV tuner performance and integration. Silicon Labs' highly integrated TV tuner, manufactured with standard CMOS, is now in its 6th generation and eliminates the need for more than 100 discrete components, achieving a new level of reception performance while realizing a simpler design, lower manufacturing costs, superior productivity, and improved reliability.

Product Price and Purchase Information
Samples and production quantities of the Si2151/41 TV are currently available in a 3 mm x 3 mm 24-QFN package. The Si2151 worldwide hybrid TV tuner is available for $0.72 in 10,000-unit quantities, and the Si2141 worldwide digital TV tuner is available for $0.70 per unit in 10,000-unit quantities (all prices are in USD). To accelerate development, Silicon Labs is supplying Si2151-A-EVB and Si2141-A-EVB evaluation boards for $395 (USD MSRP). For detailed information on Silicon Labs' silicon TVs and ICs, as well as information on purchasing samples and development tools, please visit www.silabs.com/tv-tuner .