Royal Philips Electronics introduced a new family of audio/video decoders to significantly enhance the consumer experience of the digital home. By integrating multi-standard stereo and a seamless interface with advanced silicon tuner solutions into the new SAA7136 and SAA7137 decoder family, Philips is enabling Connected Consumers to experience high-performance features, such as high-fidelity stereo and 480p/576p component video capture, in wireless TV, media gateways, digital media adapters and other emerging applications, at approximately 20 percent lower prices than older generation stand-alone analog stereo and video decoder solutions.

A number of Philips' reference design partners, PC and consumer electronics customers, such as Sling Media, will introduce technologies with this solution at CES 2006. Sling Media's Slingbox is a breakthrough consumer electronics product that enables consumers to watch their living room TV programming from wherever they are by turning virtually any Internet-connected Windows-based laptop or desktop PC into a personal TV. The Slingbox redirects, or "placeshifts," a single live TV stream from a cable box, satellite receiver or digital video recorder (DVR) to the viewer's PC -- located anywhere in the home or anywhere in the world, via the Internet.

"The ability to support advanced audio/video capabilities across a variety of devices, from the TV, digital video recorder and set-top box, to the home network, laptop PC, mobile handhelds and smartphones has made the Slingbox one of the hottest consumer electronics products for the digital home," said Bhupen Shah, co-founder, COO and vice president of engineering for Sling Media. "Philips' new family of highly integrated A/V decoders will allow us to bring a single, worldwide product to market in a streamlined form factor, helping us lower manufacturing costs and continue to be a leader in this emerging market."

According to In-Stat, the market for devices that require advanced A/V decoders is expected to grow from 33 million units in 2005 to 122 million units in 2009. "Demand for high-performance video and stereo in connected consumer applications is fueling the need for innovation and cost improvements in devices for the digital home," said Michelle Abraham, principal analyst, In-Stat. "PC TV tuners, cable set-top box/DVRs, and DVD recorders all rely on A/V decoders to accurately capture analog sources to deliver the quality experience that consumers want, and more accessible price points gained through higher integration will continue to drive adoption."

The new family builds on Philips' first generation A/V decoders by incorporating a variety of advanced features, including 10-bit analog-to-digital conversion, enhanced Macrovision(R) Detection, support for 480p/576p component video capture, and 1080i/720p downscaling. Combined with a Philips Silicon Tuner, the new decoders offer a complete world-wide front-end solution -- from RF to baseband -- with just two integrated circuits. The new SAA7136, packaged in BGA-256, and the SAA7137, packaged in SQFP-208, are supported by Philips easy-to-use MACH-III (Mini-module Advanced Carrier Hardware) Evaluation System.