Texas Instruments announced a new DOCSIS 3.0 chipset that supports cable set-top-boxes (STB) with both MPEG-TS (transport stream) and Internet Protocol (IP) capabilities. This provides equipment manufacturers with the ability to create a new breed of hybrid STB products.
The new Puma 5 TNETC4820, which builds upon TI’s current portfolio of DOCSIS 3.0 compliant products, is compatible with both legacy QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) cable video and IP-based data streams, and can function either as a transport or video gateway into the residence. Supporting both STB and gateway solutions, the TNETC4820 helps operators change the way end-consumers receive video to the home and distribute video inside the digital home by allowing operators to deliver video over IP concurrently with their current video over MPEG distribution system. To provide further value, Puma 5 based video gateways have the ability to translate any video signal into an IP message allowing operators to deliver video through home networking technology to low-cost STBs. This flexibility allows the equipment to accept legacy video, IP data or both from the network and distribute multiple channels throughout the home. As a result, operators can rapidly roll-out new multimedia services like IPTV as marketplace demand continues to grow.
In addition, the TNETC4820 takes advantage of a scalable multimedia processing architecture which includes video input/output (I/O) capabilities for easy expansion and enhancement of the system’s video handling facilities. The device’s configurable DOCSIS 3.0 subsystem can support as many as four upstream and up to 8 downstream channels, or various combinations of DOCSIS and/or MPEG video channels. The TNETC4820’s video I/O facilities allow the number of downstream channels to be easily scaled upward to as many as eight.http://www.ti.com
