TV Tuner Chip for Watching TV at 125 MPH

INGOLSTADT, Germany & PLANO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2008--Bringing its advanced radio frequency (RF) silicon electronics to the automotive industry, Microtune(R), Inc. (NASDAQ: TUNE) today introduced a first-of-its-kind tuner chip for high-speed in-car TV. The MicroTuner(TM) MT2067 is a world-standard, automotive-grade TV tuner engineered to provide superior, stable TV reception for passengers in vehicles traveling at top speeds along the autobahn or highway. It enables automakers to improve performance, increase reliability and minimize total RF systems costs when adding real-time broadcast TV to increasingly popular rear-seat entertainment options.

At 7 x 7 millimeters, the miniature MT2067 chip allows automakers to replace conventional bulky modules with advanced silicon TV tuner chips. In addition to its very low profile, the MT2067 enables customers to design multi-standard global TV receiver platforms--it supports worldwide analog and digital terrestrial standards that include NTSC, PAL, SECAM, DVB-T, DVB-H, ISDB-T, DTMB, ATSC and ATSC-M/H.

Microtune is a leading supplier of RF silicon and subsystems products, and it develops and markets broadband tuners, amplifiers and upconverters for the cable, consumer electronics and automotive entertainment markets. Microtune has shipped more than 112 million of its silicon TV tuner chips, a technology that the Company invented and that is now protected by an extensive patent portfolio.

James A. Fontaine, President and CEO of Microtune, said, "We combined our silicon RF expertise with our automotive heritage and experience to develop a dedicated automotive TV tuner that yields significant performance, reliability, size and cost benefits. As with our recently announced MT1119 antenna amplifier, the MT2067 is part of a new portfolio of highly integrated RF silicon technology products targeted for the automotive market. It is engineered specifically to meet the complex, rigorous technical, operating and qualification requirements of our automotive customers, providing an advanced electronics solution as the industry strives to deliver competitive entertainment value and options to ever-more demanding consumers."

MT2067: ENGINEERED FOR PERFORMANCE AND RELIABILITY IN THE HARSH VEHICULAR ENVIRONMENT

High-speed in-car TV puts severe radio frequency (RF) demands on the tuner, and the MT2067 is engineered to solve the technical challenges associated with receiving analog and digital TV signals in a constantly changing, fast-moving environment. It is optimized for excellent sensitivity, superior strong signal behavior and improved channel selectivity, the three most critical technical parameters for mobile TV reception. The MT2067 is also engineered to deliver no-compromise performance for receiving weak signals and signals packed in dense, urban signal environments. It offers Microtune's spur-avoidance technology, which enables high-performance in multi-tuner diversity architectures by preventing interference between tuners.

The MT2067 is a highly integrated, dual-conversion single-chip tuner that supports the RF frequency range from 48 to 862 MHz. An integrated low-noise amplifier ensures excellent system sensitivity, while Microtune's patented ClearTune(TM) filter technology limits interference from strong undesired channels. The MT2067 tuner automatically controls the RF gain, depending on the receiving conditions. In order to support hybrid-receiver designs, it provides two Intermediate-Frequency (IF) outputs, one for connecting a digital TV demodulator and a second one to connect an analog TV demodulator.

As with Microtune's other automotive products, the MT2067 is engineered to operate in the harsh vehicular environment, meeting the unique challenges of temperature, vibration, and long product-life times as compared to consumer products. Developed to meet stringent automotive specifications, it supports temperatures from -40 to +85°C, and is designed to be qualified according to the requirements of the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC) Q100.

Unlike traditional car-TV tuner modules, the MT2067 requires fewer quality-sensitive supporting components. This feature enables system designers to meet the automaker's stringent requirements for reliability and failure rates with less effort and lower cost.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

The MT2067 tuner is in production now and is priced at $7.50 per unit in quantities of 10,000.