(2 August 2010 4:15 pm)

MUMBAI: Dish TV has selected STMicroelectronics (ST), a global supplier of set-top box (STB) ICs, to power its latest digital set-top boxes.

The new standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) STBs of Dish TV will have ST’s highly integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) STB decoder ICs.

The offering enables Dish TV to deliver innovative services with a cost-effective solution.

Dish TV MD Jawahar Goel said, “Our new digital STV benefit from ST’s highly featured and flexible SoC ICs to provide an ideal platform for us to deliver innovative value-added services to our customers."

“This represents an important design win for ST, demonstrating our ability to deliver customised solutions and emphasising our commitment to support strategic and fast-growing markets through resources such as our Greater Noida research and development center, which is now our largest outside Europe,” said ST EVP and p - Greater China and South Asia Francois Guibert.

The new digital STBs featuring ST’s highly integrated SDTV and HDTV SoCs are now rolling out to Dish TV subscribers throughout India, Dish TV said.

The STi5189 decoder in Dish TV’s SD equipment is suitable for interactive DVR-capable and hybrid STBs. It supports DVB-S satellite broadcasting and industry-standard middleware and browsers, integrates an audio subsystem supporting Dolby Digital 5.1 and MP3 decoding, and supports all major conditional-access security standards. There is also an interface to off-chip Flash memory, which allows a PVR-type time-shift feature without requiring a hard-disk drive.

The STi7111 at the heart of Dish TV’s new HD STBs supports H.264, VC1, MPEG2 and numerous other video standards, and is designed to minimise energy consumption while maintaining system performance. HD video is output through the embedded HDMI 1.3 interface at up to 1080p resolution, while the embedded Ethernet port enables integration within home networks. A PCI interface is also provided.