Thomson develops chip for HD PVR set-top boxes

August 17, 2007 – French firm Thomson is reportedly developing a high-end decoder chip for high-definition set-top boxes with personal video recording (PVR) capabilities.

The chip, designated the 4230, is intended to be used in IPTV, cable or satellite set-top boxes, and will provide HD decoding for H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX codecs, as well as standard-definition streams.  Thomson has stated that the 4230 chip will be able to output both standard-definition and high-definition streams simultaneously.

“With the ability to implement a secure video processor (SVP) for the satellite, cable pay-per-view and broadcast markets, we expect the Thomson 4230 to lead the market,” stated Marc Crosnier, Worldwide Sales Manager for Thomson Silicon Components.

The chip will support multiple security formats, in addition to dual USB 2.0 and Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) interfaces that support PVR and digital video recoding applications, with or without a hard disk drive connection.