Manufacturers are not waiting for ATSC M/H to begin selling small-screen portable and hand-held DTV sets.
Digital Stream, one of the companies offering DTV converter boxes, is introducing the MUON Portable LCD TV. The MUON uses MaxLinear's MxL5007T silicon tuner.
"The MUON TV is a breakthrough in size, weight, and long battery life," said Ju H. Kim, CEO of Digital Stream. "The exceptional digital picture quality, innovative user interface, and contemporary styling make it the ultimate portable ATSC TV for everyone. Making this breakthrough would not be possible without the ultra low power, small size and footprint, and superior performance of MaxLinear’s MxL5007T silicon tuner."
MaxLinear's CEO, Kishore Seendripu, said that his company's silicon tuner was well suited for this application.
"Digital Stream, a leading supplier of ATSC TV products sold in major retail outlets, has exacting standards for performance and quality" Seendripu said. "MaxLinear's silicon tuner exceeds this high bar surpassing all A/74 ATSC receiver performance guidelines, including the challenging Taboo Channel requirements. In fact, the MxL5007T achieves this performance at a very low cost and with extremely low power consumption. This is yet another example of how our digital CMOS RF products enable our customers to offer highly competitive, differentiated end products with the best performance, lowest power, and smallest size in the market."
The MUON will be available at nationwide retail stores starting in February this year.
Eviant introduced an interesting and colorful assortment of ATSC portable DTV sets at CES. "The Card" series includes 4.3- and 7-inch portable widescreen LCD models. "The Sheet" series features a 19-inch LCD and a foldable base. These portable DTVs will be available in the first quarter of 2009, with prices ranging from $169 to $299.
