Press Release
- 2003
ATI's Digital Receiver Technology Now Available in ALPS Plug-and-Play Digital TV Tuner Reference Design
New digital technology provides advanced ATSC and Cable reception
Tuesday, January 7, 2003
MARKHAM, Ontario - ATI Technologies
Inc. (TSX:ATY, NASDAQ:ATYT) announced today that Japan-based
ALPS Electric Co. Ltd. has created a digital TV tuner reference
design using ATI's NXT2003™ DTV Cable and Terrestrial Receiver
and NXT2004™ VSB/QAM Receiver. The reference design features
a Digital Terrestrial/Cable compatible PIP (picture-in-picture)
NIM (network interface module) that is backwards compatible
with existing analog terrestrial and cable transmissions. The
PIP NIM is intended for digital TV (DTV), set-top box, and PC-DTV
products for countries that have adopted the NTSC (National
Television Standards Committee), ATSC (Advanced Television Systems
Committee), and North American Digital Cable Compatible Unidirectional
standards.
With the recently announced CEA/NCTA Digital Cable Plug-and-Play
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the North American digital
TV market is on track for unprecedented growth. The increasing
demand for HDTV is encouraging consumer electronics manufacturers
to accelerate their product development projects. The ALPS
digital PIP NIM reference design has been created to help
accelerate the efforts of these companies.
The ALPS Digital Terrestrial/Cable Compatible PIP NIM can
simultaneously tune and receive any combination of two digital
8-VSB (vestigial side band), 64/256 QAM (quadrature amplitude
modulation), or analog NTSC signals. In addition, a single
QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying) Out-of-Band receiver
is included. The primary TV channel is received by a TDE tuner.
The combination of the TDE tuner and the NXT2003™ DTV
Cable and Terrestrial Receiver provides demodulated digital
ATSC and Cable MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group), demodulated
analog NTSC, and digital Out-of Band outputs. The PIP function
is realized using a TDH Integrated Tuner Demodulator (ITD)
that includes the tuner, IF strip, NTSC demodulator, and NXT2004™
VSB/QAM receiver.
"We are very proud to announce our first Digital Terrestrial/Cable
Compatible Picture-In-Picture Network Interface Module for
the US DTV market," said Mamoru Aoki, Senior Manager,
Engineering Dept. 1, ALPS Electric Co Ltd. "This comprehensive
reference design will allow our customers to bring digital
terrestrial and cable compatible consumer electronics devices
to market as fast as possible."
The NXT2003™ and NXT2004™ are the highest performance
DTV solutions on the market today. The devices demonstrate
superior reception performance in the presence of multipath,
phase noise, impulse noise, adjacent and co-channel interference
for both terrestrial and cable environments.
"The new standards for cable plug-and-play give companies
like ATI and ALPS the opportunity to provide leading-edge
digital TV tuner technologies to manufacturers today as they
plan for the consumer electronics of tomorrow," said
Chip Hollowell, Manager of Business Development, Digital TV
Group, Consumer Products Division, ATI Technologies Inc. "ALPS
has created a reference design, including the NXT2003 and
NXT2004, that will enable better digital TV tuner solutions
for the future."
ATI Technologies will exhibit its DTV technologies at International
CES in booth 31145 (south hall) January 9-12, 2003 in Las
Vegas, Nevada.
Copyright
2003 ATI Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. ATI and ATI
product and product feature names are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. All other company and product
names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective
owners. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are
subject to change without notice.
Company Background
About ALPS Electric Co. Ltd.
ALPS Electric Co. Ltd is a Japanese corporation that has manufactured
various electronic components since its foundation in 1948.
Based on its innovative proprietary technology and market
outlook, the Company provides cutting-edge electronic components
that contribute to the advancement of a multimedia society
in the four core businesses of communications and broadcasting:
components, computer peripherals and car electronics. Based
on a four-sphere business structure comprising Japan, Asia,
the United States and Europe, Alps advances global corporate
activities that strengthen partnerships with countries and
regions throughout the world. Additional information may be
accessed at www.alps.com
About ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. is a world leader in the design and
manufacture of innovative 3D graphics and digital media silicon
solutions. An industry pioneer since 1985, ATI is the world's
foremost visual processor unit (GPU) provider and is dedicated
to deliver leading-edge performance solutions for the full
range of PC and Mac desktop and notebook platforms, workstation,
set-top and digital television, game console and handheld
markets. With 2001 revenues in excess of US $1 billion, ATI
has more than 1,900 employees in the Americas, Europe and
Asia. ATI common shares trade on NASDAQ (ATYT) and the Toronto
Stock Exchange (ATY).
Contact Information
For media or industry analyst support, visit our Web site
at http://www.ati.com .
Other ATI Contacts:
Pedro Cabezuelo, Senior Counsellor, BenchMark Porter Novelli,
at (416) 422-7164 or pcabezuelo@bmporternovelli.com
For Information:
John Swinimer, Public Relations Manager, Consumer Products,
ATI Technologies Inc., at (905) 882-2600 Ext. 8456 or swinimer@ati.com
For investor relations support, please contact:
Janet Craig, Director, Investor Relations, ATI Technologies
Inc., at (905) 882-2600, Ext. 2631 or jcraig@ati.com
Alps Electric Co. Ltd. Contact:
Public Relations & Secretarial Department of ALPS ELECTRIC
Co., LTD., 1-7 Yukigaya-Otsuka-cho, Otaku, Tokyo, 145-8501.
Phone: +81(3) 5499-8001, Fax: +81(3) 3726-1386
