March 19, 2007

Microtune Introduces MoCA Compatible Tuners

By CT Staff Report

On Monday, Microtune rolled out two new 1.1 GigaHertz (GHz) TV tuner chips that, when integrated into advanced 1-GHz set-top boxes, permit cable operators to provide their customers a “no new wires” digital in-home network. Based on CableLabs’ DOCSIS and OpenCable specifications, the two new MicroTuner chips are companion tuners for personal video recorder (PVR) set-top boxes supporting the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) specification.

According to the press release, Microtune’s tuners, the MT2022 DOCSIS Set-top Gateway (DSG) Tuner and the MT2122 Analog/Digital Video Tuner, are the first 1.1-GHz tuners in the industry and are MoCA-compatible without additional filtering. They offer cable equipment manufacturers not only expanded bandwidth flexibility, but also reduced RF cost and simplified design.

“Our new MoCA-compatible tuners offer important components for cable set-top boxes with in-home content routing,” said James A. Fontaine, Microtune President and CEO. “They complement our recently announced DOCSIS 3.0 wideband tuner by providing key enabling RF silicon that allows operators to offer next-generation on-demand, interactive and distributed services. Our cable customers are a cornerstone of our business, and we are committed to developing the RF technologies they require to leverage existing plant investments, to attack new revenue-generating service opportunities and to successfully compete in the marketplace.”

The MicroTuner MT2122 is a fully integrated single-chip tuner specifically designed to enable high-performance analog and digital OpenCable PVR set-top boxes. The MicroTuner MT2022 is a fully integrated single-chip tuner specifically designed to enable DOCSIS Set-top Gateway (DSG) functionality.

Both devices receive signals from 48 MHz to 1.1 GHz, enabling operators to gain the additional spectrum to deliver complex, bandwidth-substantial services. Because of their architecture, both chips are also inherently immune from MoCA interference. Because MoCA transmissions share the same coaxial wiring that delivers cable content into the home, MoCA-enabled set-top boxes must be robustly designed to prevent MoCA transmissions from interfering with cable entertainment and data services. The MT2122 and MT2022 tuners are designed to be unaffected by transmissions in the MoCA band, providing set-top box manufacturers with increased performance margin. Current cable set-top boxes that employ MoCA can require expensive filtering to prevent this interference and can operate to only 860 MHz.