SAN DIEGO, Jan. 7, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Entropic Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENTR), a leading provider of silicon solutions to enable connected home entertainment, announced today the EN4020 -- a powerful multi-mode hybrid RF CMOS silicon tuner. The EN4020 offers industry leading performance, analog and digital support and enables cost reduction by streamlining production and testing processes for tuner module manufacturers.
CMOS Design and Multi-mode Functionality
Developed using CMOS process technology, Entropic's EN4020 breaks the cost barriers, which have historically hindered the adoption of silicon tuners by tuner module manufacturers. The EN4020 allows CAN tuner vendors to benefit from the linearity and programmability of silicon tuners in their tuner module designs. Additionally, the EN4020 is the first low-cost CMOS tuner in production to offer Nordig compliance for cable and terrestrial applications.
Entropic's EN4020 provides multi-mode functionality to enable the design of a single hardware tuner module that can easily be software-configured for different market applications and requirements. With multi-mode capability, the EN4020 offers tuner manufacturers the ability to reduce hardware variants and streamline manufacturing, test and assembly processes. The overall impact to manufacturing efficiency allows module vendors to reduce their time-to-market while lowering costs.
"We are proud of the advanced engineering that went into the development of Entropic's most advanced silicon tuner," said Patrick Henry, CEO of Entropic Communications. "The multi-mode design and programmability offer tuner module manufacturers a low cost, flexible solution for a variety of tuner applications suitable for worldwide market adoption."
Hybrid Capability and Industry Leading Performance
Although the worldwide transition from analog to digital continues, the need for supporting legacy analog signals will remain for years to come. Historically, the support of analog and digital signals required two separate tuner modules. However, Entropic's EN4020 has been designed with hybrid analog and digital support offering the ability to accommodate legacy analog broadcasting applications while servicing the requirements of emerging digital markets. By providing hybrid support in a single programmable device, the EN4020 eliminates the need for a separate analog tuner and reduces both the cost and the size of hybrid tuner modules.
The EN4020 boasts strong performance in sensitivity and linearity for over-the-air (OTA) and cable TV (CATV) applications. The extended dynamic range of the EN4020 with maximum input power handling of +8dBm is well suited for OTA environments. The EN4020's industry leading Noise Figure of 4.0dB provides excellent sensitivity and delivers improved picture quality. Further, the chip's designed filtering capability offers significantly improved adjacent channel performance characteristics over those of traditional discrete tuner implementations, thereby improving picture quality under high interference conditions.
The high performance of the EN4020 allows it to meet the requirements of cable operators for the design of next generation set-top boxes (STBs) capable of delivering digital video to pay-TV subscribers. The EN4020 silicon tuner includes Entropic's patented AdaptiveTune(tm) technology that allows key characteristics of the tuner to be programmed via software to optimize front-end performance for different environmental conditions. The AdaptiveTune(tm) feature has proven advantages in digital cable networks where excessive interference from legacy analog signals and terrestrial signal leakage can degrade picture quality. The EN4020 contains all front-end functions and requires no external SAW filters of amplifiers.
Availability
EN4020 samples and evaluation kits will be available to the general market in February 2009.
Visit Entropic Communications at 2009 International CES
For more information on Entropic's advanced silicon tuners, visit Entropic during the 2009 International CES at booth # 25829 in the South Hall.
About Entropic Communications
Entropic Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENTR) is a leading fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops and markets systems solutions to enable connected home entertainment. The company's technologies significantly change the way high-definition television-quality video and other multimedia content such as movies, music, games and photos are brought into and delivered throughout the home. For more information, please visit www.entropic.com.
The Entropic Communications logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4255
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature constitute "forward-looking statements." Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the advantages and deployment of Entropic's EN4020 silicon tuner. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause Entropic's actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the effects of competition; Entropic's dependence on a limited number of customers and ultimately service providers; Entropic's ability to introduce new and enhanced products on a timely basis; the risk that the market for high-definition television-quality video and multimedia content delivery solutions may not develop as anticipated; Entropic's dependence on its relationships with tuner and demodulator manufacturers for the success of its tuner products; the effect of intellectual property rights claims; risks related to Entropic's international operations; and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Entropic's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended September 30, 2008. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Entropic is providing this information as of the date of this release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.