Samsung crams world's digital TV into a single chip

The chips are compatible with the DVB-T/H system being used or deployed in many European countries, the DAB-IP system being used in London, Japan's ISDB-T "1-seg" system and South Korea's terrestrial DMB.

Samsung said they are the first quad-system chips to be made using 65-nanometer production technology. The nanometer measurement refers to the size of the smallest feature on the chip's surface. Chip makers like Samsung are continually refining their production technology to produce chips with smaller, finer features because that helps shrink the overall size and power consumption of the units -- something that is especially important for chips used in portable electronics products.

One of the two chips is a multi-band RF tuner, which receives the analog broadcast signal, and the other is a channel decoder, which takes that analog signal and transforms it into a digital signal for processing. The tuner covers the VHF, UHF and L frequency bands used for mobile digital TV in most regions. Samsung also offers a single chip containing the two pieces of silicon.

Mobile digital TV is becoming increasingly popular among consumers in many countries. Almost all high-end cell phones in markets like Japan and South Korea now offer digital TV reception and the feature is being added to laptop computers and portable media devices. However, a number of different standards exist around the world making such multi-standard chips a potentially attractive option to hardware makers.

Samples of the chips are already being produced and offered to system makers and mass production is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter, Samsung said.