NxtWave Introduces Dual Terrestrial/Cable DTV Chip

NxtWave Communications recently debuted a trio of high-performance integrated circuits that combine digital terrestrial reception and cable compatibility on one chip. The company says the chips overcome cable compatibility issues and provide cost-efficient alternatives for manufacturers, cable system operators and consumers receiving digital programming.

The integrated design of the NXT2005 family (the NXT2003, NXT2004 and NXT2005) combines advanced VSB technology and QAM with the option for Out of Band (OOB) capabilities. The result is a high-performance, lower-cost product designed to operate on reduced power and eliminate the need for multiple components. The chips are built on a foundation of previous NxtWave work on advanced equalizer technology for terrestrial reception.

The chips deliver quality digital signals whether the user is a cable subscriber or receives signals over the air. The NXT2004 includes QAM and deinterleaver memory for unencrypted QAM signal formats. The NXT2003 adds an OOB receiver for unidirectional cable applications to enable the decryption of scrambled signals. The NXT2005 adds a return path modulator to the NXT2003 functions for interactivity.