National Semiconductor Introduces Industry’s Lowest Jitter 3-Gbps Serial Digital Interface Chipset

Equalizer, Reclocker and Cable Driver Deliver Industry-Leading Performance, Support New SMPTE 424M Broadcast Video Specification

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS CONVENTION, LAS VEGAS National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:NSM), a leading supplier of high-performance analog signal-path products, today introduced a 3-Gbps (3G) serial digital interface (SDI) chipset that provides the industry’s lowest jitter transmission of 1080p high-definition (HD) broadcast video at up to 60 frames per second over a single coaxial cable. National’s 3G chipset, which includes the LMH0344 adaptive cable equalizer, LMH0346 reclocker and LMH0302 cable driver, is well-suited for serial routing and distribution applications as well as a wide range of video production and processing applications. National also today introduced a 3G multi-rate SDI serializer and deserializer chipset.

Each product in National’s 3G chipset delivers performance breakthroughs for the new Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) 424M broadcast video standard, which supports serial transmission of higher resolution 1080p video. These breakthroughs include the industry’s only 3G adaptive equalizer to guarantee less than 0.3 units interval (UI) of alignment jitter, the industry’s smallest, lowest power and lowest jitter 3G SDI reclocker, and a cable driver that offers leading output return loss, low additive jitter and a power-saving standby mode. The 3G chipset is backward compatible with National’s existing HD-SDI product family. National is the only supplier to offer a complete 3G SDI solution including equalizer, reclocker, cable driver, serializer and deserializer. National will demonstrate its 3G SDI chipset at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas from April 16-19 at Booth N5117.

The chipset adds to National’s expanding portfolio of 3G SDI products -- including the LMH0340 serializer and LMH0341 deserializer -- to deliver a complete end-to-end transmission solution for SMPTE 424M. National also offers a complete family of signal conditioning products, including the DS25BR100/110/120 LVDS buffers, capable of operation up to 3.125 Gbps.

Key Features – LMH0344 3G HD/SD Adaptive Cable Equalizer
The LMH0344 automatically adapts and equalizes signals from 143-Mbps to 2.97-Gbps. It has the industry’s lowest output alignment jitter across cable lengths allowing hardware designers more headroom for designing within system jitter budgets. The LMH0344 is the only equalizer to guarantee less than 0.3 UI of output jitter from zero to 100m of Belden 1694A coaxial cable at 2.97-Gbps. It equalizes 120m of cable at 3G rates, 140m at HD rates and 350m at SD rates. The device typically consumes 285 mW of power from a single 3.3V supply and is packaged in a 16-pin LLP® package that is fully backward compatible with National’s LMH0044 HD-SDI equalizer. For more information on the LMH0344 or to order samples and an evaluation board, visit http://www.national.com/pf/LM/LMH0344.html.

Key Features – LMH0346 3G HD/SD Reclocker
The LMH0346 is the industry’s smallest, lowest power and lowest jitter 3G SDI reclocker. It automatically detects and retimes the incoming signal to reduce high frequency jitter. The LMH0346 is the only discrete single-channel 3G SDI reclocker without an input mux. By removing the input mux, National reduced the pin-count to one-third of competitive devices and the package size by one-half. Compared to competitive products that require one reference crystal for each individual reclocker, the LMH0346 is capable of sharing a single 27 MHz reference across multiple devices, which further reduces board area and system costs. Dual differential outputs and an optional data-rate clock maximize designer flexibility. The device typically consumes 390 mW from a single 3.3V supply and is housed in a tiny 20-pin TSSOP package that is backward compatible with National’s LMH0046 HD-SDI reclocker. For more information on the LMH0346 or to order samples and an evaluation board, visit http://www.national.com/pf/LM/LMH0346.html.

Key Features – LMH0302 3G HD/SD Cable Driver
The LMH0302 drives 75-Ohm transmission lines at data rates from DC to 2.97-Gbps. A power-saving enable pin allows the user to disable the output driver to reduce power consumption to 76 mW in standby mode. With driver enabled, power consumption is 162 mW at 3G and HD data rates using a single 3.3V supply. The LMH0302 provides two selectable slew rates for compliance with SMPTE 259M and SMPTE 424M/292M. The device is housed in a 16-pin LLP package that is backward compatible with National’s LMH0002SQ HD-SDI cable driver.