MaxLinear Inc. announced that Zinwell, a major satellite TV
set-top box manufacturer in Taiwan, has selected the MxL544 Full
Spectrum Capture ™ (FSC™) DVB-S/S2 receiver for a new family of
satellite TV home media gateways.
The MxL544-powered satellite media gateways from Zinwell include a
four-channel “headed” gateway and a four-channel “headless” media gateway,
both of which facilitate viewing satellite TV content on multiple screens
throughout the home, including TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones. The
two systems are designed for both pay-tv and free-to-air market satellite
customers in Asian and European markets.
Home media gateways are high-end set-top box products that enable the
integration of video capabilities into an existing home network and the
service provider’s infrastructure. They feature built-in storage for PVR,
home networking capabilities, transcoding and IP video support. Acting as
media servers, a gateway can terminate conditional access, convert satellite
TV content into IP packets and stream the packets in the home over wired or
wireless networks.
Headed gateways, which have video decode capabilities, sport a video
rendering component that allows direct connection to a television using a
traditional output method such as HDMI. In contrast, the headless gateways
do not have video rendering component and hence they cannot be directly
plugged into a television set. Decoding of satellite TV content is performed
on the client devices in this case.
Zinwell selected the MxL544 for its industry leading performance,
ultra-low power, and ability to reduce system costs significantly. The
MxL544 features four FSC tuners, each of which digitizes the entire 950-2150
MHz satellite spectrum and replaces up to four discrete tuners.
It is a true single-chip solution because it integrates low-noise
amplifier (LNA), tuners and demodulators, all of which reduces the bill of
materials and simplifies the frontend design dramatically. It is also built
using MaxLinear’s proprietary digital CMOS process for the lowest power
consumption in the industry.
“Our new gateway products move Zinwell into a new market space, and it
was important to us to work with a partner who’s technology was proven and
would give us an advantage,” said Chester Wu, Vice President of Sales and
Marketing at Zinwell. “Our design revolved around the great feature set that
MxL544 offered and we’re confident that it has put us in the market sweet
spot.”
“Zinwell places an emphasis on creative designs, and it was great to see
just how they were able to innovate using all of the functionality in the
MxL544,” said Brian Sprague, MaxLinear’s Vice President and General Manager
for Broadband and Consumer Products. “Zinwell is a great example of the
progress MaxLinear is making in the satellite market because of the
compelling value and performance offered by our MxL500 family of receivers.”
