LAS VEGAS (Jan. 7, 1997) -- Mitsubishi Electric America and Lucent today announced they have jointly developed the industry's only end-to-end, receiver-to-display digital television (DTV) chip set that meets the North American Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) digital television standard for both high-definition television (HDTV) and standard-definition digital television (SDTV) applications.

The chip set enables digital televisions, set-top boxes, personal computers and other digital appliances to receive digital video and CD-quality audio signals from terrestrial broadcast stations. Lucent and Mitsubishi will be demonstrating the chip set here at the Consumer Electronics Show here at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The chip set consists of five application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs):

• AV8100: a single-chip DTV terrestrial demodulator for vestigial side-band (VSB) modulation, which separates the digital signal from the analog carrier wave on which they are transmitted. The demodulator performs three core VSB reception functions on a single chip whereas other manufacturers use two or three chips to perform the same function. It is fabricated in 0.35-um CMOS process technology and is available in a 160-pin quad-flat pack (QFP); VDD = 3.3V.
• AV6220A: an MPEG-2 (ISO/IEC 13818-1) system layer demultiplexer, which separates the audio and data portion of the transmission from the video portion. It is fabricated in 0.5-um CMOS process technology and is available in a 160-pin QFP; VDD = 5.0V.
• M65682WG: an MPEG-2 main profile at high-level (MP@HL) video decoder, which decompresses the encoded video signal. It is fabricated in 0.35-um CMOS process technology and is available in a 329-pin ball-grid array (BGA) package; VDD=3.3V.
• M65863FP: a Dolby digital AC-3, 5.1-channel (5 channels plus subwoofer) audio decoder, which decompresses the audio portion of the transmission. It is fabricated in 0.5-um CMOS technology and is available in a 68-pin QFP; VDD=3.3V.
• M65680WG: a DTV display processor, which transforms decoded video signals and outputs into both progressive and interlaced video formats. It supports all 18 input formats specified by ATSC regulations and converts to either 1080i or 720p when receiving HDTV signals. The processor converts all to 480i when receiving SDTV signal, then outputs an analog RGB signal. It is fabricated in 0.5-um CMOS process technology and is available in a 338-pin BGA; VDD=3.3V.

The demodulator and demultiplexer chips were developed by Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group and Bell Labs. The video decoder was developed by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Bell Labs, and the audio decoder and the display processor were developed by Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

Lucent announced commercial availability of the demodulator chip (AV8100) in November 1997. Mitsubishi Electric America's Digital Broadcast Business America (DBBA) and Electronic Device Group business units are marketing the Mitsubishi portion of the chip set in North America.

"This chip set offers the most complete solution available today for high-definition digital television," said Tommy Poon, senior vice president for strategic planning in Mitsubishi Electric America's DBBA division. "Lucent and Mitsubishi not only offer the most robust receiver chip set, but we also provide the encoding technology for HDTV broadcasting and also industry-leading big screen technology with our HD-1080 series receivers that are slated to ship at the end of 1998."

The chip set interfaces with a variety of RF tuner front-ends to receive incoming DTV signals from terrestrial broadcast stations and cable systems. The chip set receives and decodes all 18 digital TV formats defined by the ATSC for HDTV and multi-channel SDTV, and displays them in both interlaced and progressive formats allowing greater flexibility in the reception of DTV broadcasts. Additionally, the audio decoder is included as part of the chip set making it the most integrated DTV chip set available.

"We leveraged the research and development experience from Lucent's Bell Labs and Mitsubishi's wide-screen TV expertise to be able to offer this complete first-generation chip set for the emerging digital television market," said Ed Roberts, general manager of Lucent's broadband network communications ICs group.

Commercial samples of the complete chip set are scheduled for release in the end of the first quarter of 1998 from Lucent's Microelectronics Group and the Electronic Device Group of Mitsubishi Electronics America (a Mitsubishi Electric America company). Front-end tuning and demodulation application boards will be available in February 1998 and audio-video decoder boards will be available in the second quarter of 1998.

Volume production for the chips is slated for the third quarter of 1998, fueling the production of consumer digital televisions to be available by the fourth quarter of 1998. The chip set will be used by Mitsubishi in its own consumer HDTV receiver products, and is being marketed by both companies to other HDTV manufacturers.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is a manufacturer of consumer electronic products and is ranked among the top 10 worldwide semiconductor suppliers. Mitsubishi Electric America Inc. was established in 1973 as the holding company for all 15 of Mitsubishi Electric's subsidiary companies in North and Central America.

Mitsubishi Electric America's Digital Broadcasting Business America division is the focal point in North America for a collaborative effort among all Mitsubishi Electric Corporation business units with a stake in DTV technology and products. The division provides strategic business planning and marketing services for essential building blocks of DTV required by broadcasters, cable and satellite service providers, and manufacturers of computer systems and television sets.

The Electronic Device Group of Mitsubishi Electronics America, a Mitsubishi Electric America company, markets an extensive range of semiconductor-based products in the North American marketplace including eRAM' system-on-chip products, ASICs, memory ICs, optoelectronic products, microwave GaAs FETs, MPEG codecs and flat-panel displays.

This information is based on a press release written by Tom Topalian of Lucent Technologies Media Relations.