TV chip production begins
24/1/2005 14:54
Xue Wen/Shanghai Daily news
Fudan University has
begun mass production of China's first domestically made digital TV chip, the
school announced over the weekend. Fudan said the chip, dubbed CDTV-1, is
China's only commercially viable digital TV chip used in a set-top box to
receive digital broadcasting signals. It has placed orders with Grace
Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Semiconductor Manufacturing International
Corporation to manufacture the chip. "Each company will manufacture 10,000
chips for us at the beginning," said Zhou Dian, president of Fudan's School of
Microelectronics. Zhou said that a dozen domestic electronics makers,
including Changhong, TCL, Skyworth and Haier, have integrated the new chip into
their products. Henan Province is using the new technology to offer mobile TV
programs, and at least 10 other localities including Guangzhou of Guangdong
Province, and Tianjin, have reported success in trial operations, according to
Zhou. The mass production of the chip, which is based on the DMB-T standard
proposed by Beijing's Tsinghua University, has intensified the competition
between Tsinghua and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the two major contenders to
design China's digital TV broadcasting standard. Although the central
government has said that the final standard will be a combined result of the
three proposals from Tsinghua, Jiao Tong and the research arm under the State
Administration of Radio, Film and TV, industry experts suggest the three
standards, which are based on totally different technologies, can't be
incorporated. Jiao Tong University has developed its standard based on the
European standard and has operated pilots in major cities including Beijing and
Shanghai during the past few years. Yang Zhixing, director of Tsinghua
University's Digital TV Transmission Technology R&D Center, said the
national standard is expected to be issued before the Chinese Lunar New Year on
February 9. China was scheduled to announce its national standard last year,
but pushed the deadline back for unidentified reasons.
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