Expect to see improvements in portable DTV sets when Xceive Corp.'s "Breckenridge" reference design hits the market later this year. Xceive demonstrated a 7-inch portable ATSC HDTV set with a 1080p LCD display at the Computex trade show earlier this month in Taipei, Taiwan.
The Breckenridge design uses Xceive's XC5000 chip, which the company claims, "is capable of up to 100 percent more coverage area of reception versus many premium can tuners." The XC5000 specifications meet or exceed ATSC A/74 and OpenCable standards.
The main circuit board used in the reference design measures only 2.75- by 4.75-inches. Robert Lin, general manager of MStar China said, "The small form factor of this 7-inch high-definition television clearly presents huge challenges both in size and performance from inexpensive antenni (sic)."
Lin said that the XC5000 chip solved both design problems by providing a small form factor, along with performance improvements that can compensate for weaker signals delivered by smaller antennas.
Neil Mitchell, vice president of marketing at Xceive, said, "Xceive and this system-on-a-chip partner are enabling a new class of television products not seen in the industry prior to our technologies being employed together. With this Breckenridge reference design we expect to see customers reach the marketplace with solutions based on this platform this year."
