TORONTO- Fresco Microchip has announced their partnership with Maxim Integrated Products (NASDAQ: MXIM) to deliver a highly integrated front-end for global hybrid (analog + digital) television reception.

For several decades, MOPLL-based "CAN" tuner modules have been the de-facto standard for delivering superior picture quality at a competitive price. Industry experts predict MOPLL tuners are expected to account for the vast majority of tuners shipped in televisions in the immediate future.

At the same time, ever thinner television designs are increasing the demand for smaller and lower-profile tuners. Silicon tuners eliminate the hundreds of high-profile inductors, capacitors and resistors required by MOPLL based designs, making them ideal for use in next generation tuner modules. In some cases, the silicon tuner is placed directly on the motherboard of the television to eliminate the CAN module for ultimate cost reduction.

"The television market is still clinging to traditional MOPLL-based CAN tuners to meet performance and cost requirements," says Randy Lawson, principal analyst and manager for iSuppli. "However, over the next several years, we expect the industry to migrate from MOPLL to silicon-tuner based CAN tuners to eventually use silicon tuners on the TV motherboard for mainstream design.

Transitions in the television industry are gradual and this is no exception as television manufacturers look to retain the proven reliability and design simplicity of the CAN tuner form factor with the thinner form factor available through silicon-based solutions."

"With millions of televisions shipping with Fresco inside, our customers include many of the largest TV brands around the world," says Mike Gittings, vice president of marketing, Fresco Microchip. "Combining the field-proven, television-grade performance of Fresco's demodulators and IF processors with Maxim's silicon tuner offers a highly integrated, universal front-end solution that raises the bar for hybrid tuners worldwide."

The Fresco-Maxim solution is the first silicon RF hybrid receiver to exceed the performance requirements for global terrestrial and cable television. With more than 30 million chips shipped, Fresco's FM1100 family is the industry-standard for analog demodulation and digital IF processing.

Combined with the superior performance of Maxim's MAX3543 broadband silicon tuner, the solution features multiple performance advantages that enable superior picture quality. The completed design delivers industry-leading adjacent channel rejection handling, sensitivity, spurious reduction and competitive noise figure.

The platform offers an ultra-small footprint well-suited for the world's thinnest televisions without compromising performance. The reference platform offers a flexible architecture to address both the CAN and on-board television tuner designs.

"Maxim's customers consistently rate the MAX3543's performance as best-in-class," says William Chu, business director at Maxim. "By using an innovative single-conversion tuner architecture, the MAX3543 delivers proven, spur-free reception of analog and digital signals. Partnering with Fresco combines best-of-breed products from both the tuner and demodulator markets. Our companies share a common vision that TV and tuner manufacturers require a solution that exceeds the performance of existing MOPLL and silicon tuners. Our joint solution is designed to accelerate mainstream adoption into televisions."

For more information visit www.maxim-ic.com and www.frescomicrochip.com.