Industry's first HD/SD-SDI serializer with integrated audio multiplexer
BURLINGTON, Ontario, April 10, 2007 – Bringing advanced video capabilities to a new class of applications, Gennum (TSX:GND) unveiled an integrated serializer that targets emerging "prosumer" products such as digital camcorders, mixers and recorders. The GS1582, which will be available for sale in June 2007, features several enhancements over Gennum's previous HD/SD-SDI serializers including the industry's first integrated audio multiplexer. Gennum will be demonstrating the capabilities of the new device showing both video and audio at the National Association of Broadcasters trade show (Booth SU9114) April 16-19 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"Gennum continues to focus on silicon integration to deliver the highest performance, lowest cost solutions for our customers," said Alan Ferguson, Director of Marketing at Gennum. "By incorporating the audio multiplexer, cable driver and ClockCleanerâ„¢ into our serializer, our customers' bill of materials is dramatically reduced, enabling a host of new applications to take advantage of serial digital interface (SDI) capabilities at an affordable price point. As a result, we will continue to see more robust professional video capabilities, such as SDI functionality, moving to the mainstream via prosumer and consumer products."
Embedded Audio Multiplexer
The GS1582 is the industry's first high definition/standard definition serial digital interface (HD/SD-SDI) serializer with an internal audio multiplexer. Previously, customers used field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for the multiplexer, adding considerable board space and cost to the overall design. Gennum's patented innovation features an internal audio multiplexer integrated with video processing for both HD-SDI and SD-SDI. Additionally, the GS1582 is compliant to industry standards, including the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) 299M and SMPTE 272M-A/C. The device supports up to 8 channels of 48kHz audio, which supports Dolby 5.1 and is required for many emerging prosumer applications today. The input audio can be AES, I2S or serial digital audio, providing flexibility for designers targeting a variety of applications.
Internal Cable Driver, Low Power Consumption
In addition to the integrated audio multiplexer, the GS1582 comes equipped with an internal SMPTE-compliant cable driver with excellent output return loss performance. Previously handled in a separate chip, the integration of the cable driver represents a significant savings in cost, board space and power consumption. Indeed, the GS1582 has the same power consumption and package size as previous Gennum serializers even with the addition of a cable driver and audio multiplexer. The device also features a low-power standby mode, making it ideal for battery-powered applications, such as camcorders.
Internal ClockCleaner
The GS1582 also features Gennum's acclaimed ClockCleaner technology, which allows the device to tolerate a high-jitter input parallel clock and still have a low-jitter serial output. Jitter rejection depends on the frequency of the input jitter, but typically a serializer with Gennum's ClockCleaner technology is capable of rejecting 10 times more jitter than any other HD-SDI serializer. In the GS1582, this technology has been refined so the loop bandwidth can be narrowed even further to as low as 20kHz, proving further jitter rejection.
Meeting the Needs of Prosumer Applications
The GS1582 delivers considerable features over previous HD/SD-SDI serializers making it ideal for a host of new applications. Specifically, the GS1582 offers:
* Support for CEA 861 timing
* Generic ancillary data insertion
* Extended temperature range of -20 to +85oC
* Improved output eye diagram
* New pin out that allows for easier noise-immune board design
NAB Demonstration Showcases Unprecedented Serializer Performance
Gennum's new serializer will be shown serializing video and multiplexing audio for attendees at NAB next week. Specifically, the GS1582 will be serializing parallel video and inserting embedded audio, highlighting the chip's extremely low jitter performance.
About Gennum's Video Timing and Transport Offerings
Gennum offers a broad portfolio of semiconductor solutions for the video equipment industry, including equalizers, cable drivers, reclockers, serializers, deserializers, clock generators and cleaners and embedded audio CODECs. The company was awarded a Technical Emmy® Award at CES 2007 for its SDI technology, which allows TV studios to transmit uncompressed, unencrypted digital signals extremely quickly within a studio's production facilities.
About Gennum
Gennum Corporation (TSX: GND) is a leading designer and manufacturer of semiconductor solutions for the global video, data communications and audio markets. A winner of a Technical Emmy® award for advances in high definition (HD) broadcasting, Gennum's broad portfolio of products and technologies include image processors, video timing and transport products, ICs for optical transceivers, backplane interconnects and low power digital signal processing (DSP) solutions. Gennum is headquartered in Burlington, Canada, and has global design, research and development and sales offices in Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom. http://www.gennum.com
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