Saa7162 devices

Introduction

In March 2005, Philips Semiconductors announced "the industry's first integrated PCI Express dual global video and stereo decoder for digital home PC desktops and notebooks" (press release). The new analog decoder chip, the saa7162, uses the increased bandwidth of the PCI Express bus to capture to two simultaneous analog channels of live tv or baseband video (cf. product flyer).

Around the same time, Micronas Semiconductors announced the APB 7202A nGene dual-channel PCI-Express multimedia controller with support for two DTV transport streams and analog video, see product page.

PCI Express TV cards are clearly attractive, but unless the chip and card manufacturers provide detailed specifications, new drivers will take time to develop.

PixelView PlayTV PCX600

This card, from Prolink Microsystems in Taiwan, was demonstrated already at CeBit 2005 as the first PCI Express dual channel multimedia controller; cf. press release. It uses the nGene controller.

They claim their PV-A425E model will be available "soon", but a year later there is no trace of it.

KWorld PCI Express Hybrid

An early example of a card that uses the saa7162 decoder chip is this hybrid card, which also supports Intel's serial digital video out (SDVO):

See product page.