eeProductCenter Ultimate Products 4.3

(1)
ANALOG DEVICES
HDMI transmitter features on-chip consumer electronic control support

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"Analog Devices' ADV7520NK is a low-power HDMI v1.3 transmitter for portable media and DVD players, video recorders, and other mobile multimedia devices capable of supporting high-definition audio and video content."

Readers Say:
"This device will make multimedia experiences with cameras much easier, and will help extend battery life in the devices."
"Sounds cool. I'll keep it in mind should I ever need one."
"1st in the market will help promote HDMI to portable devices."
"For a commercial product this is a very significant upgrade step technologically."
"This is great for helping HDMI grow in the mobile application space. Would be nice to see how they get around 3.3V CML TMDS outputs with a single 1.8V supply"
"A very good device"

USABILITY RANK: 1

(2)
ALTERA
Altera ships first member of high-end Stratix III FPGA family

eeProductCenter's Clive Maxfield says:
"Altera Corporation has announced the shipment of the EP3SL150, the first member of its 65-nm Stratix III FPGA family. Featuring 150K logic elements and delivering the lowest power consumption of any high-density, high-performance programmable logic device, the EP3SL150 is ideal for a broad range of applications such as high performance computing, next-generation basestations, network infrastructure, and advanced imaging equipment."

Readers Say:
"Too expensive"
"The new DDR3 memory interface and new power management makes Stratix III extremely attractive for new challenging designs."

USABILITY RANK: 2

(3)
FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR
Voltage translator guarantees performance down to 1.1 V

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says:
"Fairchild Semiconductor has rolled out a single-bit, bi-directional voltage translator with guaranteed operation from 1.1 V to 3.6 V for ultra-portable, computing, communication and industrial applications. The FXLH1T45 voltage translator interfaces processors to electronic subsystems operating at different voltage levels by providing both uni-directional and bi-directional translation between a variety of voltage levels. The 1.1-V operation makes the FXLH1T45 suitable for the low-power requirements of ultra-portable applications."

Readers Say:
"Is there a 5V version? Lot's of stuff out there that still uses 5V signalling."
"Another nice space saving development."
"Possible future use"

USABILITY RANK: 3

(4)
AMIMON
HD interface chipsets allow CE systems to connect wirelessly

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"Amimon Inc. is offering a pair of Wireless High-Definition Interface (WHDI) chipsets -- the AMN2110 and AMN2210 — that enable consumer electronic (CE) display and device manufacturers to develop home entertainment products that connect wirelessly."

Readers Say:
"If this does what they claim it could lead to some GREAT new products."
"Great concept, but I see significant barriers to implementation. First and foremost is that this adds another port to the TV design. Looking at the back of any TV and you see that there is already a plethora of ports. Second, I did not see any indication of how many of these devices could be active at a single time and if you have multiple sources or multiple sinks how do you pick and choose who talks to whom. Third and probably most importantly is the method by which they reduce the video data size by reducing the LSB accuracy, probably they actually remove this bit or bits. Timing controllers used to implement a similar approach in the video lookup tables for LCD panels, but now there is a push to move away from this in order to get the best possible picture quality. Also, one of the boasting points of HDMI 1.3 was deep color, actually increasing the color bit from 8 to 10, 12, or 16 bits per color for more life like video. It just seams like this is a step backwards when it comes to video quality."
"Cool product!"

USABILITY RANK: 5

(5)
INTERSIL CORP
Transceivers boast extended temperature range, high ESD protection in small packages

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says:
"Intersil Corp. has introduced the ISL3159E and ISL3179E RS-485/RS-422 transceivers that deliver an extended temperature range of -40C to 125C, 15 kV IEC61000 electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection and a 40 Mbits/s data transfer rate in MSOP and DFN package options that are about 70 percent smaller than standard 8-lead SOICs."

Readers Say:
"The Intersil ISL3159E and ISL3179E RS-485/RS-422 transceivers are simply the best on the market. The ESD protection, fail-safe, hot-plug, up to 40Mbps and thermal slug are more than enough features to vote for these chips!"

USABILITY RANK: 4

(6)
GENNUM
Cable equalizer reaches 120 meters for 3-Gbits/s transmission

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"Continuing to drive the adoption of 3Gbits/s video transport products, Gennum Corp. has broken the 100-meter barrier with its latest adaptive cable equalizer. The GS2974B multi-rate equalizer achieves 120 meters for 3-Gbits/s transmission, enabling broadcast equipment manufacturers to meet longer cable specifications. Gennum's GS2974B equalizer provides support for SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) 424M, SMPTE 292M and SMPTE 259M."

Readers Say:
"Anything that significantly and successfully extends high speed cable lengths is a big plus."
"Progress in HD bandwidth is critical to the next generation of motion picture products. Want to see this on the consumer side as well."

USABILITY RANK: 7

(7)
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
TI rolls out pair of HDMI switches

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"Texas Instruments has rolled out two video switches for digital video interface (DVI) or high definition multimedia interface (HDMI). The devices connect either two or three digital video signals coming from devices such as game consoles, digital video switch boxes, set-top boxes or DVD players to a single HDTV display."

Readers Say:
"This looks like a really useful product for older equipment that has limited HDMI ports. Most newer devices have multiple ports already, but this could be useful nonetheless."
"I wonder if these have a role in Tayhoe detector technologies and SDR."

USABILITY RANK: 8

(8)
EXAR
16-channel T1/E1/J1 line interface unit saves board space

eeProductCenter's Ismini Scouras says:
"Exar Corp. has developed a 16-channel T1/E1/J1 line interface unit (LIU) designated the XRT83VSH316 that is optimized for high-density applications in where board space is limited such as multi-service provisioning platforms, routers, optical, and wireless transport equipment."

Readers Say:
"Saving board space is great."
"It's not you, it's me - clock rate seems slow for a crystal-less. Concern about frequency stability."

USABILITY RANK: 6

(9)
FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR
Multiplexer supports high-voltage and dual-voltage SD/SDIO/MMC

eeProductCenter's Gina Roos says:
"Fairchild Semiconductor says the FSSD06 is the first multiplexer that supports high voltage and dual-voltage secure digital (SD)/secure digital I/O (SDIO)/ multimedia cards (MMC), enabling an application's processor to multiplex between a SD card, SDIO card, MMC card and peripherals. Applications include multi-functional portable devices such as GPS devices, cell phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and printers."

Readers Say:
"I hope to see applications using this technology soon."

USABILITY RANK: 9

(10)
QUICKLOGIC
QuickLogic PolarPro CSSPs/FPGAs now available in military temperature rating

eeProductCenter's Clive Maxfield says:
"Underscoring its commitment to the military market, QuickLogic has announced that the latest member of its PolarPro family of FPGAs (or CSSPs in the QuickLogic vernacular) -- the QL1P1000 -- is now available in a mil-spec temperature rating. The extremely low-power PolarPro is available in sizes of up to 1 million gates and offers unparalleled design security."

Readers Say:
"What is new here?"
"Proprietary FPGA's are on their way out. It's about open architecture to ensure security."

USABILITY RANK: 10

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