MaxLinear MxL603 Terrestrial Tuner Selected for “Air HDTV” Streaming Smart Antenna/STB

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  • Innovative two-channel ATSC Air HDTV provides cord cutters with access to 200 over-the-air channels; design leverages MxL603 “Super Radio” tuner and technology from ViXS Systems and Morega Systems

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE: MXL), a leading provider of radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal integrated circuits for cable and satellite broadband communications, the connected home, data center, metro, long-haul fiber networks, and wireless infrastructure, today announced its MxL603 global terrestrial tuner has been chosen for Air HDTV, an over-the-air (OTA) antenna/set-top box (STB) designed by Wireless Innovations Group.

The Air HDTV smart antenna/STB, which debuted at CES, provides state-of-the-art ATSC television reception for “cord-cutters,” consumers who prefer Internet-based “over-the-top” (OTT) video services instead of cable or satellite pay TV. Air HDTV is complementary to existing OTT platforms like Roku, AppleTV, Chromecast and DIRECTV NOW, but adds the missing element of live, free local broadcast channels. Air HDTV enables up to two channels to be received simultaneously and streamed over a Wi-Fi network to smart TVs, PCs, tablets or mobile phones throughout the home.

The Air HDTV features MaxLinear’s MxL603 tuner, which is part of the company’s MxL600 “super radio” family of 4 mm x 4 mm, 65nm pure digital CMOS tuners with superior tuning sensitivity. MxL600 tuners feature software-configurable broadcast standard support allowing manufacturers to design a common tuner for use with ATSC, DVB-T and other broadcast standards.

Wireless Innovations also selected the XCode 5516 SoC from ViXS Systems Inc. to provide dual transport stream 1080i HD-to-1080p HD transcoding. The XCode 5516 also features USB and 10/100 Ethernet networking capabilities. The device is based on the ViXS CordCutterTV Dual solution platform, which features ATSC/DVB OTA reception options, streaming via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, storage interfaces including eMMC, SD Card, USB and SATA, support for a networked DVR and support for iOS and Android clients.

For media portability, the Air HDTV uses software from Morega Systems to enable streamed content to be available on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Morega’s technology creates a complete ecosystem for the transformation and delivery of media to consumer devices around the home or on the go.

“Cord-cutting is a major trend in television consumption and this will only accelerate with Air HDTV. Air HDTV will revolutionize the way people will watch television in the future,” said Henry Cooper, CEO of Wireless Innovation Group. “It is important to match our vision for this product with the right technology providers. MaxLinear, Morega Systems and ViXS Systems have been great partners in delivering a high-quality system.”

“As the cord-cutting market matures, more consumers are searching for a solution to access their local channels for sports, news and their favorite network shows,” said Will Torgerson, MaxLinear Vice President & General Manager of the Broadband Group. “These consumers demand very high-quality TV reception and the MxL600 family features and performance deliver industry-leading signal quality required for the market.”

“The Air HDTV product will revolutionize the OTA streaming market to deliver consumers local channels, news and pro sports, live on any supported device anywhere in the home,” said Perry Chappell, VP Sales and Marketing of ViXS Systems Inc. “The ViXS XCode 5116 was key in enabling streaming of OTA content easily, seamlessly and reliably to any compatible video device by utilizing its OTA hardware media processing engine.”

“The amount of video being watched by consumers on their mobile devices is continuing to increase, making reliable media streaming to these devices an essential feature. Now, with a product like the Air HDTV, reliable streaming of OTA content to mobile devices has become a reality,” said Ashraf Tahir, CEO of Morega Systems. “Our award-winning media mobility solution not only provides reliable streaming but is comprehensive and customizable, which makes it ideal for Air HDTV and other ATSC streaming applications.”

MxL600 Technical Highlights

The MxL6xx family of tuners, which includes the MxL601, MxL602, MxL603, MxL605, MxL608 and MxL661, deliver exceptional performance for all global analog and digital television reception standards in cable and terrestrial reception environments. They offer market-leading low power consumption of 350mW or less in typical applications.

The very low power consumption and compact 4 x 4 mm footprint in a standard 24pin QFN package make it possible for customers to design ultra-small form factors and to support multi-tuner applications. The software-configurable MxL6xx devices allow manufacturers to design a common front-end for all global broadcast standards. Supported standards include: PAL, SECAM, NTSC, DVB-T/T2, ISDB-T, ISDB-Tmm, ATSC, ATSC M/H, DTMB, ITU-T J.83 Annex A (DVB-C) / B (US Cable) / C (Japan).

About ViXS Systems Inc.

ViXS is a pioneer and market leader in designing revolutionary media processing semiconductor solutions for video over IP streaming solutions, with approximately 500 patents issued and pending worldwide, numerous industry awards for innovation, and over 33 million media processors shipped to date. ViXS is driving the transition to Ultra HD 4K across the entire content value chain by providing professional and consumer grade chipsets that support the new High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard up to Main 12 Profile, reducing bandwidth consumption by 50% while providing the depth of color and image clarity needed to take advantage of higher-resolution content. ViXS’ XCodePro 300 family is ideal for Ultra HD 4K infrastructure equipment, and the XCode 6000 family of system-on-chip (SoC) products achieve unprecedented levels of integration that enable manufacturers to create cost-effective consumer entertainment devices.

ViXS is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with offices in Europe, Asia and North America. VIXS™, the ViXS® logo, XCode®, XCodePro™, XConnex™ and Xtensiv™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of ViXS. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For more information on ViXS, visit our website: www.vixs.com.

About MaxLinear, Inc.

MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE: MXL), a leading provider of radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal integrated circuits for cable and satellite broadband communications, the connected home, data center, metro, long-haul fiber networks, and wireless infrastructure markets. MaxLinear is headquartered in Carlsbad, California. For more information, please visit www.maxlinear.com.

MxL and the MaxLinear logo are trademarks of MaxLinear, Inc. Other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements concerning or implying future financial performance or trends and growth opportunities affecting MaxLinear, including statements related to the performance of MaxLinear’s MxL603 global terrestrial tuner. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current, preliminary expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including (among others) risks relating to integration of our acquisitions of assets from Microsemi Corporation and from Broadcom; intense competition in our industry; the ability of our customers to cancel or reduce orders; uncertainties concerning how end user markets for our products will develop; our lack of long-term supply contracts and dependence on limited sources of supply; potential decreases in average selling prices for our products; currently pending intellectual property litigation; and the potential for additional intellectual property litigation, which is prevalent in our industry. In addition to these risks and uncertainties, investors should review the risks and uncertainties contained in MaxLinear’s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 as amended by Amendment No. 1 filed with the SEC on April 28, 2016; our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, June 30, 2016 and September 30, 2016; and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. MaxLinear is providing this information as of the date of this release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

MaxLinear Inc. Press Contact:
The David James Agency LLC
David Rodewald
+1 805-494-9508
david@davidjamesagency.com
or
MaxLinear Inc. Corporate Contact:
Will Torgerson
Vice President & General Manager of the Broadband Group
+1 760-692-0711
wtorgerson@maxlinear.com

Source: MaxLinear, Inc.

Released January 6, 2017