Samsung TV Introduces New Multistandard Decoder Chipset for Mobile TV

By Doug Lung
published

Samsung announced last week what it claims is the industry’s first 65 nm multistandard channel decoder and multiband RF tuner chipset for multiple mobile DTV standards. Standards supported include DVB-H/T, DAB-IP, ISDB-T and terrestrial DMB.

The S5M8602 multiband RF tuner does not require an external low-noise amplifier and supports UHF, VHF and L-band frequencies. The S3C4F31 multistandard channel decoder supports Link Layer processing and is able to output fully error-corrected IP datagrams or MPEG-2 transport streams without the need for additional memory ICs.

The RF tuner and channel decoder will be available as two standalone ICs, or as a combined system-in-chip package. Samples are available now and mass production is scheduled for Q4 2007. Samsung said the chipset would be released in Europe and Asia first and did not mention the proposed A-VSB standard for U.S. DTV broadcasting, of which it is developing in partnership with Rohde & Schwarz.

Doug Lung
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.