Thomson demos HD set-top box chip at IBC 2007

Thomson, a Paris-based digital media and video company, is planning to release a new set-top box chip at IBC 2007 in Amsterdam in September.

The high-end decoder chip, designated Thomson 4230, is for HD set-top boxes with personal video recording (PVR) capabilities.

It includes digital video broadcasting software stack and reference boards for satellite, IP and cable set-top boxes, and will provide HD decoding for H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX codecs.

It will be able to output both standard-definition and high-definition streams simultaneously.

The chip will support multiple security formats, in addition to dual USB 2.0 and Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) interfaces that support PVR and digital video recoding applications, with or without a hard disk drive connection.

It also provides routing capability to enable customers to build and customize triple-play solutions (VoIP services, broadband Internet and cable television/video-on-demand).