PC-to-DVB-C (cable)

General description

This PCI-based digital cable receiver, built around the SAA7146A PCI bridge, keeps system costs to a minimum by using software for transport stream demultiplexing and the host CPU for MPEG decoding.

Blockdiagrams

Key features

• SAA7146A PCI bridge
  • Multiple DMA channels
  • Bi-directional audio/video capture and playback
  • Dual high-performance video scalers
  • Binary radio scaler (BRS)
  • PCI 2.1-compatible bus interface
  • Camma correction
  • Pixel dithering for low-resolution video output
• Multimedia tuner
  • DVB-C compliant
  • Small footprint
• Support for conditional access
• Support for third-party application software

Background information

The design requires only two key components, the DVB-C front-end and the SAA7146A PCI bridge. Satellite channel decoding is provided by a DVB-C compliant multimedia media tuner.

The highly integrated PCI bridge SAA7146A includes multiple DMA channels, bi-directional audio/video capture and playback, and dual high-performance scalers. The industry standard for PCI-based multimedia upgrades, the SAA7146A allows for a multitude of feature enhancements above and beyond the core DVB-C reception capability of the design, allowing maximum reuse of software. Possible options for the SAA7146A include video editing, video conferencing, analog TV in a PC, and analog video capture.

The design works with NXP's BDA-compliant tuner and capture drivers that match perfectly with third-party application software and MPEG decode/demux filters, and Microsoft BDA components to form a complete system solution.