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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: VidiVici who wrote (41208)	5/17/1999 5:26:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

This part competes with the TV/COM tech that C-Cube bought............ biz.yahoo.com Sunday May 16, 2:01 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Integrated Front-End Chips for Cable and Satellite Systems SAINT GENIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 1999--STMicroelectronics, the world's leading supplier of MPEG2 decoder and Set-Top Box chips (Dataquest, August 1998), has introduced two devices that integrate the front-end functions of cable and satellite systems. The STV0299 is a multistandard (QPSK, BPSK) demodulator for use in digital satellite receivers and set-top boxes, while the STV0297 is a single-chip QAM demodulator for cable systems. The STV0299 satellite receiver chip builds on the success of the STV0199, of which millions of units have been shipped. Enhancements offered by the new device include a larger carrier loop tracking range (45MHz) to compensate for dish frequency drift and a higher sampling rate (90MHz) to allow easier implementation with low cost single conversion (Zero IF) tuners. The STV0299 integrates a derotator, a square root Nyquist matched filter, a phase/frequency recovery block, variable rate digital filters, acquisition and tracking loops, and a Forward Error Correction (FEC) circuit containing inner (Viterbi) and outer (Reed-Solomon) decoders. The FEC unit is compliant with the DVB-S and DIRECTV specifications. The STV0299 is Common Interface compliant (3.3V output) and also integrates a DiSEcQ modulator. The STV0299 interfaces seamlessly with ST solutions for other stages of the satellite receiver chain. At the input side, it interfaces to the STB0050/1 or other Zero IF Direct Conversion Tuners, while the STV0299's output is an MPEG-2 or DIRECTV compliant transport stream in either serial or parallel format that can be seamlessly connected to ST's OMEGA (STi55xx) or ST20-TPx back-end devices. Key features of the STV0299 include the ability to demodulate variable data rates from 2 Mbps up to 100 Mbps (1-50Mbaud), allowing the same satellite IRD to adapt to various satellite transponders in Europe, North America, and Asia. The dual AGC architecture allows the chip to operate down to 1 Mbaud with excellent adjacent channel rejection characteristics, which allows the chip to be used in single channel per carrier (SCPC) applications. The STV0299 supports a variety of configurations and operating modes via and I2C interface. The device also incorporates an I2C bus repeater to prevent I2C ref lected bus noise interfering with the PLL of the tuner. Built in 0.25 micron CMOS technology, the STV0299 offers a low power consumption of only 0.6W and is housed in a compact TQFP64 package with 10x10mm footprint. QAM Demodulator The STV0297 is a complete single-chip QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) demodulator for use in systems that receive compressed television, audio or data services via cable. It is fully compliant with the DVB-C and ITU J83-A specifications and can also decode ITU J83-C (Japanese scheme) bitstreams, making it ideal for cable TV STB (European and Japanese/Asian markets), cable tuners with embedded QAM demodulation and cable modems. The chip includes a high performance A/D converter that can handle up to 256-QAM signalsina Direct IF Sampling architecture, eliminating the need for an external down-converter. The Demodulation is performed fully digitally, so that no external components are required for recovery loops. The STV0297 can handle a wide range of symbol rates, from 11.7 Msps down to 0.87 Msps even in the presence of significant frequency offset. It also supports square (16, 64, 256-QAM) and non-square (32, 128-QAM) constellations. The STV0297 outputs error-corrected MPEG-2 Transport Streams and complies with the DVB Common Interface format. The device is designed to provide seamless connection to the packet demultiplexers in the OMEGA or ST20-TPx back-end chips. Housed in a compact TQFP64 package and consuming typically only 500mW (at 6.9 Msps), the small footprint, low power consumption and outstanding BER (Bit Error Rate) performance make the STV0297 an extremely cost-effective solution, while the many application-oriented digital features, controlled via an I2C interface, enable the design of high quality systems. STMicroelectronics (formally SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics) is a global independent semiconductor company, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on the Bourse de Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. The Company designs, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of semiconductor integrated circuits (ICs) and discrete devices used in a wide variety of microelectronics applications, including telecommunications systems, computer systems, consumer products, automotive products and industrial automation and control systems. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: STMicroelectronics Press: Maria Grazia Prestini Corporate Press Relations Manager Tel (Agrate): +39.3.96.03.59.01 (Saint Genis): +33.4.50.40.25.32 or STMicroelectronics Steve Harrison Director of Investor Relations, U.S. Tel: 972-466-7699 or Morgen-Walke Associates, Inc. Michele Katz/Elric Martinez Tel: 212-850-5600