Fully-Programmable Audio ICs Heighten HDTV Experience

28th March 2008

Analog Devices

ES Admin

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Analog Devices has introduced two audio processors for HDTV sound that provide uninterrupted, high-fidelity audio connectivity from a variety of digital and analog home entertainment sources. The ADAV4601 and ADAV4622 audio processors expand ADI’s Advantiv advanced television solutions portfolio to provide complete, cost-effective, fully programmable audio solutions that speed delivery of audio enhancements in flat-panel plasma and LCD HDTV designs. With a single ADAV46xx-based audio platform, engineers can support multiple TV designs ─ from high-end to low-end ─ without costly system redesign, reducing time-to-market by up to several weeks.

Offering unit costs that are comparable with fixed-function audio processors, the fully programmable ADAV46xx family gives OEMs the flexibility to customize their advanced audio subsystems, or to use default settings for fixed-function audio processing. In addition to supporting the latest audio standards used in HDTVs, the new audio processors provide the capability for supporting post-sale software updates and enable TV manufacturers to easily add performance enhancements or remedy TV model hardware and software issues.

“The flat-panel TV market has shifted into high-gear, so manufacturers must deliver advanced audio functions across numerous product lines, price targets and industry standards,” said Bill Bucklen, director, Advanced Television Segment, Analog Devices. “The ADAV46xx family enables audio engineers to deliver lifelike sound that compensates for the space-constrained speakers in today’s flat-panel LCD and plasma TVs. At the same time, ADI’s new audio processors provide support for important end-user system firmware upgrades that are critical in helping to reduce product returns and minimize costs.”

Combined with high-performance, multi-channel, 24-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and an integrated multi-channel, pulse-width modulator (PWM), the ADAV46xx family delivers all the subsystem functionality required for an advanced TV audio implementation. Designed to work with ADI’s latest High-Definition Multimedia Interface™ (HDMI™) receivers and Class-D power stages, the new audio processors eliminate annoying pops and clicks that can disrupt audio clarity. The ADAV46xx also includes an external mute pin, allowing designers to provide pop/click reduction during system start-up, change audio sources seamlessly and deliver the high-quality audio required to match today’s high-definition (HD) video.

The enhanced processors provide full support for digital and analog baseband audio, as well as multi-standard analog broadcast demodulation and decoding for worldwide broadcasting standards such as BTSC, EIAJ, A2-Korea, A2-Europe, and NICAM. The ADAV4622 includes an integrated broadcast audio processor with an auto-standard-detecting (ASD) processor, which reduces design time and costs over competing offerings that require external SIF circuitry for broadcast standard detection and switching.

The ADAV46xx audio processors provide advanced audio features such as a dedicated TV audio flow that incorporates full matrix switching of any input to any output; automatic volume control for compensating for volume changes during advertisements or when switching channels; dynamic bass, a multiband equalizer; and up to 200 ms of stereo delay memory for audio/video synchronization. Leveraging Analog Devices’ award-winning SigmaStudio™ DSP graphical programming tool, audio systems engineers can easily build flexible digital audio platforms by selecting from ADI’s library of royalty-free audio enhancement algorithms and support for popular third-party audio algorithms.