Seiko NPC Corporation has started full production of the SM5309AV/BV, a 3-channel video buffer with a built-in function that adjusts pass-band frequencies for the handling of signals ranging from SD to HD.

Along with the growing variety of displays, including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), and surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SEDs), recent years have seen a rapid growth in the popularity of video equipment that supports high definition display. In this same period, however, prices for TVs, DVDs, and other video equipment have become extremely competitive. As a result of these trends, it has become essential to reduce the number of substrates required for assembled products, and at the electronic parts level, to reduce the number of parts, implement compact IC design (typified by singe-chip products), and integrate these parts.

The recently released SM5309AV/BV is the successor to NPC's field-proven SM5302AS series as an analog video signal input filter for LCD and PDP TVs. While the built-in function for adjusting pass-band frequencies has enabled the new product to cover a wide range of signal bands from SD to HD, the VSOP 24-pin package has more than halved the package size of existing NPC products. Moreover, power consumption has been reduced 30% for the SM5309AV and 20% for the SM5309BV. These improvements are expected to further reduce the substrate area and power consumption of the block that processes analog signals.

In response to analog video input signals (RGB and YPbPr), the SM5309AV/BV functions as an input prefilter (anti-aliasing filter), thereby helping to eliminate harmonic components that would otherwise occur during AD conversion and lead to aliasing noise. The pass-band frequency for the filter can be set at 256 different values in a range from 4MHz to 40MHz. In addition, a variety of IC settings are controlled by the I²C-bus^*1, which provides three different slave addresses so that up to three SM5309AV/BVs can be used on the same bus line. The SM5309AV/BV is available in two versions with different drivable load resistors, giving users a selection in meeting their needs.

*1.I²C-bus is a registered trademark of NXP B.V.

Name	Price with and without tax	Volume production date	Planned production
SM5309AV SM5309BV	200 yen/unit (210 yen/unit)	Already in full production	500,000 units/month