STi7109 Set-Top Box Decoder Chip - STMicroelectronics

STi7109 is a HD (high-definition) set-top box / DVD decoder chip. STi7109 is based on the Omega2 (STBus) architecture.  The chip is  compliant with SMPTE VC-1, ATSC,  DVB, DCII, DIRECTV, OpenCable and ARIB BS4 specifications. Application: digital terrestrial, satellite, DSL, cable and IP client HD set-top boxes.

STMicroelectronics STi7109 Set-Top Box Decoder Block Diagram

Key features of STi7109 Set-Top Box Decoder:

• The STi7109 is a single-chip, high-definition video decoder including:
  •  Microsoft VC-1, WMA9 and H.264 support
  •  Linux , Windows CE and OS21 compatible ST40 CPU core: 266 MHz
  •  transport filtering and descrambling
  •  video decoder: VC-1 (including WMA 9), H.264 (MPEG-4 part 10) and MPEG-2
  •  SVP compliant
  •  Windows DRM support
  •  graphics engine and dual display: standard and high-definition
  •  audio decoder: including Windows Media Audio 9 (WMA-9) and WMA-9 Pro
  •  DVD data retrieval and decryption
• The STi7109 also features the following embedded interfaces:
  •  USB 2.0 host controller/PHY interface
  •  DVI/HDMI output
  •  digital audio and video auxiliary inputs
  •  low-cost modem
  •  100BT ethernet controller with integrated MAC and MII/RMII interface for external PHY
  •  serial ATA (SATA

The STi7109 demultiplexes, decrypts and decodes HD or SD (standard-definition) video streams with associated multichannel audio. Video is output to two independently formatted displays: a full resolution display intended for a TV monitor, and a downsampled display intended for a VCR or DVDR. Connection to a TV or display panel can be analog through the DACs, or digital through a copy protected DVI/HDMI. Composite outputs are provided for connection to the VCR with Macrovision protection. Audio is output with optional PCM mixing to an S/PDIF interface, PCM interface, or through integrated stereo audio DACs.

Digitized analog programs can also be input to the STi7109 for reformatting and display. The STi7109 includes a graphics rendering and display capability with a 2D graphics accelerator, three graphics planes and a cursor plane. A dual display compositor provides mixing of graphics and video with independent composition for each of the TV and VCR/DVD-R outputs.

The STi7109 includes a stream merger to allow seven different transport streams from different sources to be merged and processed concurrently. Applications include DVR timeshifted viewing of a terrestrial program, while acquiring an EPG/data stream from a satellite or cable front end.

The STi7109 embeds a 266 MHz ST40-202 CPU for applications and device control. A dual DDR1 SDRAM memory interface is used for higher performance, to allow the video decoder the required memory bandwidth for VC-1/HD H.264 and sufficient bandwidth for the CPU and the rest of the system. A second memory bus is also provided for flash memory, storing resident software, and for connection of peripherals. This bus also has a high speed synchronous mode that can be used to exchange data between two STi7109 devices. This can be used to connect a second STi7109 as a co-decoder for a dual TV STB application. A hard-disk drive (HDD) can be connected either to the serial ATA interface, or as an expansion drive through the USB 2.0 port.

For IP-TV applications, the integrated 100BT Ethernet controller and MII/RMII interface can be used for generic Ethernet delivery, as shown in following figure:

Low-Cost HD IP-TV Set-Top Box based-on STi7109

Source: STi7109 Set-Top Box Decoder [PDF]