New '4G' NXP Tuner Poised to Replace Conventional Units

Last week NXP Semiconductors announced the availability of its new silicon tuner, the TDA18272, which it said "represents the fourth generation of silicon tuners designed by NXP."

The tuner supports all analog and digital DTV standards worldwide. Its 6mm x 6mm package includes RF tracking filters, IF selectivity and wide band gain control, eliminating the need for external components for RF and IF filtering. NXP claims the tuner meets the ATSC A/74 Recommended Practice for tuner performance along other world-wide specifications, including NorDig 2.0, NorDig cable, ARIB STD-B21 and OCUR.

According to NXP's TDA18272 product page the tuner's data sheet is "confidential", so actual performance specifications (sensitivity, adjacent channel rejection, and like parameters) are not available.

Robert Murray, Product Line TV Front End general manager and senior director at NXP Semiconductors, observed that silicon tuners such as his company's TDA18272 will be replacing CAN (conventional "can-enclosed") tuners, just as vacuum tubes were replaced by the transistor.

"TV broadcast tuners are evolving rapidly, with older analog technologies becoming obsolete by silicon tuners," Murray said. "NXP's silicon tuners speed up the design-in process, save production costs and improve performance. They also save space in multi-tuner systems and reduce energy requirements."

NXP said the TDA18272 is available immediately and priced at US$ 1.50 per unit.

Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.