PRODUCT HOW-TO: Silicon for better DTV tuning, PIP, speed and size

Silicon tuners now have the edge, and offer feature advantages like inexpensive PIP via time slicing. By Neil Mitchell Xceive Corporation The digital TV switchover in the U.S. has been, and continues to be a gentle transition. Most cable and satellite subscribers will be unaffected thanks to digital set-top-boxes (STBs). Even the most basic level of cable subscriber, without a STB, will have time to adjust as broadcasters continue to provide analog signals alongside digital for up to three years after the February 2009 "switch." TV manufacturers must are also transitioning tuner architectures. The question, however, is no longer digital versus analog. That transition is set. Analog tuners are making way for hybrid analog/digital tuners and later on to digital-only tuner solutions in the 2011/2012 timeframe. The real question... [read full story]