ExpressCard TV Tuner

Reference design maker Siano on Wednesday said it would partner with Samsung to produce the tentatively-named SuwonExpress TV tuner (PDF). The receiver will be the first ExpressCard/54 adapter for laptops and should drastically shrink the amount of space consumed by these adapters, which are normally plugged into the USB port. It should equally deliver an extremely rare level of support for multiple over-the-air digital broadcast standards: Europe's DVB formats for handheld and terrestrial TV will accompany Korea's DMB and other protocols in a single card.

More advanced users can also exploit the card's multi-signal handling. On a basic level, the card will allow picture-in-picture viewing; the card additionally serves as a DVR that can record one channel while the viewer watches another. No pricing or availability has been revealed for the SuwonExpress, but Siano says that the card will be demonstrated at CES 2007 in mid-January and thus paves the way for a North American launch when mobile digital TV is available on the continent.

By Electronista Staff