BBC R&D has collaborated with LSI Logic to produce the L64780 chip set for digital terrestrial television.

The chip set is now being used in DTT set top boxes by several major manufacturers. BBC R&D has continued its collaboration with LSI Logic to produce a second generation chip, the L64781.

This chip replaces the two chips that were required previously, which brings significant cost benefits. Additionally, the new chip removes the need for an expensive external component (the voltage controlled oscillator) which was needed with the previous chip set. The market price for the chip is expected to be about $12 in volume.

This chip has several new features including techniques for dealing with impulsive interference caused by fridges, light switches, car ignitions, etc.

The chip has been thoroughly tested at Kingswood and we and LSI Logic were delighted when it worked perfectly first time. The performance of the chip has also been measured and is so good that we estimate that if manufacturers used this new chip instead of its predecessor, then about 1.5 million more people would be able to receive a good quality digital TV signal.

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