eeProductCenter Ultimate Products 4.3

(1)
OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY
Tiny video decoder complies with three major signal standards

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"OKI Electric Industry Co. Ltd. is sampling a video decoder LSI that complies with three video signal standards: TSC, PAL and SECAM. Designated the ML86V7665, the video decoder LSI complies with three pixel frequencies: ITU-R BT.601 standard (13.5MHz), NTSC square pixel (12.272727MHz) and PAL square pixel (14.75MHz)."

Readers Say:
"Captures the best features needed into a single package."
"A couple years earlier it would have been even bigger."
"Composite is dying"
"Sounds slick: all three video standards in one package."
"With formats such as NTSC, it's chasing an aging technology that is slowly giving way to newer technologies such as ATSC, HDMI, etc. As such it has no use for companies such as mine."
"Excellent Product"
"I've tackled this problem in the 1990's, and it was a nightmare. This new decoder should be a dream!"
"This product is not very relevant as analog television is going away." �

USABILITY RANK: 1

(2)
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
24-bit ADCs address precision industrial apps

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says:
"Texas Instruments Inc. has introduced two multi-channel, 24-bit industrial analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Exhibiting excellent DC accuracy and AC performance, the ADS1274 (4-channel) and ADS1278 (8-channel) provide a delta-sigma, simultaneous-sampling measurement system for demanding multi-channel signal acquisition applications such as vibration analysis, medical monitoring, industrial and energy metering equipment."

Readers Say:
"I mostly need MIL Spec. components."
"Always looking for better specs, faster, lower cost. We currently use 6 separate ADC's for bw. Maybe with these we won't need to."
"Nice features and performance together."
"We use the ADS1211 and for some applications having the higher sampling rate would help"
"I will need more bandwidth and can tolerate less precision."

USABILITY RANK: 2

(3)
KENET
ADC operates at 350 MSPS

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says:
"Kenet Inc., a developer of low-power analog mixed-signal products, has released a higher speed and lower power 8-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The KAD2708-350 operates at 350 million samples per second (MSPS). The company has also announced the addition of CMOS outputs for lower speed versions."

Readers Say:
"Excellent part for high speed systems."
"Evaluating..."
"In a former job I would have had a use for this part. It's nice to see an a/d that can handle high sample rates instead of being geared to audio applications."
"12 bits would be much better."
"High speed ADC's are the gating technology for wideband spectral analysis."
"Blazing fast"
"Other vendors (E2V) have higher speed low power converters up to 2GSPS."
"Ideal for high speed applications."
"Very good"

USABILITY RANK: 4

(4)
NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
Programmable gain amplifier delivers 0.03 percent gain accuracy

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says:
"National Semiconductor Corp. says its LMP8100A programmable gain amplifier (PGA) enables a new level of signal conditioning performance in sensor interface applications and data acquisition systems targeting the industrial and instrumentation markets. The LMP8100A delivers guaranteed 0.03 percent gain accuracy using a software adjustable gain (in 1-V/V increments) from 1 V/V to 16 V/V over the full industrial temperature range of -40 degrees C to 125 degrees C."

Readers Say:
"Interesting features for specific applications. This is a solution looking for a problem."
"Expensive for the "industrial" market ..."
"We use instrumentation amps AD624s, this I will research further..."
"Tight specs and 1V/V increments make this very useful."
"Excellent!"
"We use SPI to talk to many different chips on our boards, so having an SPI interface to a variable gain amp is a great option for sensor interfaces" �

USABILITY RANK: 3

(5)
MICRONAS
Converter rids 1080p flat-panel TVs of motion blur, film judder

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"Micronas has started to sample the FRC 94xyM Full HD (1080p) frame rate converter, which is designed to eliminate motion blur and film judder on 1920x1080p, 100/120Hz flat-panel TVs. The FRC 94xyM generates 100/120 images per second using Micronas' patented truD FHD 120, video processing technology that generates 120 individual frames per second (fps) from 50/60Hz broadcast content and 24 fps film source. The result is a bright, clear moving image without motion blur on LCD TVs."

Readers Say:
"Significant feature for viewing movies and sports. Specific product market."
"Potentially useful for TV makers. That means a very short list of potential customers."
"Good specs"
"Very nice specs"
"Would like to have one in my TV!"
"Hope it works - this is a really annoying problem."
"Good HD"

USABILITY RANK: 7

(6)
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
Class-D audio power amplifier integrates boost converter

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"Texas Instruments Inc. has introduced a monolithic, filter-free, Class-D audio power amplifier with an integrated boost converter, which provides constant output power for portable applications such as personal navigation devices, PDAs, mobile phones, portable media players and handheld gaming devices."

Readers Say:
"There are lots of similar products"
"Excellent"
"Like the ability to get this kind of speaker power from 3.3V"
"Very advanced application"

USABILITY RANK: 5

(7)
TOSHIBA AMERICA ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
Converter boosts conventional frame rate signals to 120-Hz

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. (TAEC) has added to its digital TV (DTV) semiconductor line the TC90240XBG, a device that integrates a scan rate converter to upgrade standard 60 Hz signals to 120 Hz."

Readers Say:
"Good features to upgrade a low cost solution with a high cost look"
"Well designed"
"Good specs"
"Every device is good"

USABILITY RANK: 10

(8)
MAXIM INTEGRATED PRODUCTS
HDMI/DVI switch maintains signal integrity, doubles the inputs

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says:
"Maxim Integrated Products has introduced a quad, high-speed, high-bandwidth, HDMI/DVI passive switch capable of switching between two digital video signals into a single monitor or multiple HDMI/DVI connectors while maintaining signal integrity."

Readers Say:
"This should be useful for machine vision systems and communications."
"Maxim's done it again, supporting the HD video industry."
"Good concept"
"Fast FET switches are useful. Make sure to spec the crosstalk and isolation."
"Most HDMI Rx now have integrated muxes and don't need an external 2:1 mux."
"Good video HDTV"
"Good image"

USABILITY RANK: 6

(9)
NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
Mobile I/O companion chips ease portable device designs

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says:
"A mobile input/output (I/O) companion family from National Semiconductor Corp. enables designers to easily expand system functionality in portable products such as personal digital assistants, media players, instrumentation, medical equipment and mobile handsets."

Readers Say:
"In this application, this is a nice product for the middle and low end portable systems."
"Too bad it is I2C, SPI much better"
"Off-load host looks interesting..."
"Too expensive-it's better to integrate the right interfaces into the processor"
"Good unit"
"Good specs"
"Very good"
"Good for digital moving image"

USABILITY RANK: 8

(10)
IDT
Codec brings audio fidelity to PCs, supports VoIP

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"IDT (Integrated Device Technology Inc.) has introduced a low-power, high-definition PC audio codec designed to help bring home-entertainment-level audio fidelity to enterprise desktop and notebook systems, while supporting mobile user capabilities such as advanced processing for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)."

Readers Say:
"Nice product, very specific market."
"Needs surround sound"
"Good product"
"Good specs"
"Like the subwoofer support"

USABILITY RANK: 9

In case you were wondering, here's how Ultimate Products works: Our editors select up to 10 of the most significant products posted at www.eeProductCenter.com during the calendar quarter. Then, using an electronic balloting process, we submit the products with the accompanying editorial reviews to selected, qualified readers. Those readers score the products by technical significance and
USABILITY on a scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest score. The product ranked No. 1 in each category was judged as most technically significant for that category. Relative
USABILITY rankings and selected reader comments are also reported. More than 1,000 of you helped to choose these products. As always, we are grateful for your enthusiastic participation.

Patrick Mannion
Editor-in-Chief, Techonline Network and eeProductcenter.com
pmannion@cmp.com