Date: 4th Aug 2010

ST Microelectronics decoder ICs powering new STBs from Dish TV

ST has announced Dish TV's latest digital set-top boxes are using ST's System-on-Chip (SoC) STB decoder ICs STi5189 and STi7111. The new digital STBs powered by ST's semiconductor chips are now rolling out to Dish TV subscribers throughout India. Dish TV's has a base of 7.5 million subscribers.

"Dish TV has an outstanding footprint in India's DTH TV market and has been a frontrunner in bringing innovative and cutting-edge technology to its customers," said Francois Guibert, ST's Executive Vice-President and President for Greater China and South Asia. "This represents an important design win for ST, demonstrating our ability to deliver customized solutions and emphasizing our commitment to support strategic and fast-growing markets through resources such as our Greater Noida research and development center, which is now our largest outside Europe."

The STi5189 is suitable for interactive, DVR-capable and hybrid STBs. STi5189 support DVB-S satellite broadcasting and industry-standard middleware and browsers, integrates an audio subsystem supporting Dolby Digital 5.1 and MP3 decoding, and supports all major conditional-access security standards. There is also an interface to off-chip Flash memory, which allows a PVR-type time-shift feature without requiring a hard-disk drive.

The STi7111 supports H.264, VC1, MPEG2 along with other video standards. STi7111 can deliver video through embedded HDMI 1.3 interface and also has embedded Ethernet port to enable integration within home networks.