Conexant Systems (NASDAQ:CNXT), a provider of semiconductor solutions for broadband communications, enterprise networks and the digital home, today announced a digital video broadcast satellite (DVB-S) compliant set-top box (STB) system solution for the basic, entry-level free-to-air (FTA) market.

The FTA market includes basic STBs that can receive unencrypted content from international satellite broadcasters at no charge, and STBs which allow users to view additional premium content for a small incremental cost. The CX24138 builds upon the technology of the company's CX2414X/5X interactive direct broadcast satellite (DBS) system solution, and introduces a new feature-set and package required by manufacturers and operators in China and other Asia-Pacific regions.

Conexant's CX24138 combines an [email protected] MPEG-2 video decoder, a digital audio decoder, a programmable transport stream de-multiplexer, an on-screen graphics display controller, a QPSK demodulator/forward error correction unit, TV encoder, and an embedded 32-bit ARM920T RISC processor with integrated peripheral I/O ports. The reference design package includes samples, schematics, layout, STB software drivers, tuning auto-scan function, user interfaces with Chinese and English language support, and complete hardware and software documentation.

The reference design is produced in Conexant's Shanghai Design Center, which was established in August 2000, providing regional manufacturers and operators with a localized design and sales support.