STMicroelectronics (ST) is sampling an SoC (system-on-chip) that integrates a VLIW-based core with an MPEG-2 decoder, and runs Linux. The STi5301 is the first in a new STx5300-series of SoCs that the company says are powerful enough for use in inexpensive, single-chipset set-top box and digital video recorder designs.

The STx5300-series chips are pin-compatible with ST's earlier STx5100-series, which was based on the 32-bit ST20 core supporting the SH4/C4 instruction set. However, the new chips offer much higher performance, thanks to a VLIW (very long instruction word) core and MMU (memory management unit), the company says.

Like the earlier STi5100 line, the new STx5300 chip integrates a USB controller, to support hard drives when used in digital video recorders. The USB host interface is OHCI and EHCI-compliant, ST says.

Typical STi5301 implementation in low-cost STB

The first STx5300-series chip, the STi5301, is based on a 333MHz ST231 core that was designed specifically for streaming media applications, ST says. The core's VLIW architecture enables it to execute up to four instructions per cycle, for a theoretical 1.33 GOPS (giga [billion] operations per second).

ST's 230-series VLIW cores include an MMU (memory management unit), allowing them to run the STLinux distribution.

The STI5301 chip integrates an MPEG-2 [email protected] (main profile @ main level) video decoder, to accelerate decoding of the most popular MPEG formats. It also integrates various crypto decoding engines, to support DVB, DirectTV, NDS, and video scrambled using DES-ECB, DVB, and ICAM.

The STi5301 includes a four-plane display controller, along with encoders for PAL, NTSC, and SECAM output. The audio subsystem supports Dolby Digital and Pro Logic, along with SRS/TruSurroundXT.

Other on-chip peripheral interfaces include four UARTs with Tx and Rx FIFOs, six parallel 8-bit I/O banks, two smartcard interfaces and clock generators, three SSCs for I2C/SPI master/slave interfaces, a SiLabs line side (DAA) interface, and a DiSEqC 2.0 interface.

ST's GM of retail and satellite home entertainment, Armando Caltabiano, said, “With an increase of over 500% in on-chip processing power, consumer electronics manufacturers [can] save hardware by implementing more system functions in software.”

Availability

The STi5301 is sampling now, packaged in a PBGA336 measuring 1.1 x 1.1 inches (27 x 27mm). An STi5301-MBoard reference board is also available. Production quantities are expected in Q3, 2005, priced at $11.

 
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