NEC Electronics and CCDT Introduce Turnkey Solution for Economical Set Top Boxes

Comprehensive Hardware and Software Solution Enables Quick Development of STBs

NEC Electronics Corporation, a leading provider of semiconductor solutions, and Beijing Cycle Century Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (CCDT), one of China's leading design houses, today introduced a turnkey solution for set top boxes (STBs) that enables STB manufacturers to bring new systems to market with minimal cost and effort. The solutions, based on NEC Electronics' EMMA^TM2SL/S single-chip MPEG decoder, are designed primarily for satellite broadcast but can be adopted to fit terrestrial and cable broadcasts as well. The solution is compliant with the DVB-S MPEG2 standard used throughout Asia and Europe, and is compatible with both PAL and NTSC broadcasting standards, as well as VBI teletext.

Advanced scanning functions automatically search for viewable channels, automatically skipping those channels without broadcasts. Furthermore, a multi-picture display in four, nine, ten, 13, or 16-frame configuration enables channel previews, allowing the viewer to instantly select from among many channels, instead of flipping through consecutive channels. In addition, the EMMA2SL/S turnkey solution allows storage of up to 4,000 programs in its memory bank.

NEC Electronics and CCDT collaborated to develop these easy-to-implement solutions. CCDT was responsible for designing the board, and developed application software. NEC Electronics provided the EMMA2SL/S MPEG decoder, and developed new driver software.

"The turnkey solutions based on EMMA2SL/S developed by CCDT will make STB system development nearly effortless," stated Shigeo Niitsu, associate vice president, 2nd SoC Systems Division, NEC Electronics. "We have worked with CCDT for many years, and value the capabilities of their talented engineers, who have helped bring a wide range of EMMA-based solutions."

"NEC Electronics' EMMA solutions are renowned for their advanced performance, graphics processing capabilities, and seamless architecture," said Li Dengbiao, general manager, CCDT. "We look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with them in the future."

The turnkey solutions developed by CCDT are based on EMMA2SL/S, NEC Electronics' single-chip MPEG decoder. The chip is designed for STBs compatible with DVB-S, the digital satellite broadcasting standard used throughout Asia and Europe, and incorporates many design features to help lower overall system costs. First introduced in March 2006, the chip integrates all of the functions needed to for DVB-S broadcast reception and decoding, including a QPSK demodulator and on-chip voltage-controlled crystal oscillator (VCXO), as well as a MIPS32®4Kec^TM core capable of 284 million instructions per second (MIPS) to enable complex STB applications.

The EMMA2SL/S MPEG decoder is part of NEC Electronics' EMMA series, based on digital image and sound compression technology, is the company's flagship series of digital AV devices. To date, over 20 different types of EMMA products have been introduced, with global shipments of 30 million units. NEC Electronics has focused on steadily expanding its offerings in the digital consumer arena, with a particular emphasis on audio-visual systems such as DVD recorders, digital televisions, and set top boxes. As a result, the company is now a leading force in the industry.

With the explosive growth of the Chinese market and the Beijing Olympics in 2008, there is a strong demand for digital AV applications such as digital televisions and STBs. NEC Electronics and CCDT are committed to helping manufacturers develop these systems quickly, easily, and with minimal cost, to help meet the consumer demand. NEC Electronics aims to grow sales of EMMA solutions in China to 1 billion RMB (approx. 17 billion yen) by fiscal year 2010.

Exhibition at SINOCES 2007
The EMMA2SL/S-based turnkey solutions will be exhibited from July 6-9 at SINOCES 2007 in Qingdao, China (NEC booth #G16 in exhibition hall 1).

Pricing and Availability
The new EMMA2SL/S-based turnkey solutions will be available from July. Total bill of materials (BOM) cost can be controlled under US$16 for a full-featured DVB-S STB. Please contact +86-10-62073389 for details. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

About CCDT

Beijing Cycle Century Digital Technology Co., Ltd. is dedicated to research and development of digital television products. CCDT has vast experience in supporting wide range of digital STB system applications to provide state of the art turnkey solutions to STB makers. For additional information about CCDT, visit www.cyclecentury.com

About NEC Electronics

NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) specializes in semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the high-end computing and broadband networking markets, system solutions for the mobile handset, PC peripherals, automotive and digital consumer markets, and platform solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics Corporation has 25 subsidiaries worldwide including NEC Electronics (China) Ltd. (www.cn.necel.com), NEC Electronics America, Inc. (www.am.necel.com) and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH (www.eu.necel.com). For additional information about NEC Electronics worldwide, visit www.necel.com.