Press Releases

Innovative architecture turns laptop PCs into globetrotting TVs

SAN FRANCISCO and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 22, 2009 - Get ready to get global with HDTV on a PC. Reference designs and samples for CrestaTech's new programmable broadband technology are now available, enabling PC manufacturers to pop in one universal chip and support all analog TV and digital TV standards worldwide.

Demonstrated publicly for the first time at this week's Intel Developer Forum 2009, the CrestaTV™ Universal Broadband Receiver technology combines a programmable RF IC and software that will allow PCs to receive live analog or digital TV broadcast, radio and GPS signals in any city, any region and any country around the world. CrestaTV unleashes unprecedented support for the widest variety of broadband frequencies ever.

As a result, for the first time, PC manufacturers can ship the same TV tuner module to Barcelona as they ship to Manhattan or St. Petersburg, ultimately streamlining the design and deployment process and reducing costs of the overall system.

And PC users can watch the TV they want wherever they travel, picking up local broadcasts or sportscasts by using embedded GPS capabilities to automatically create local channel guides in their area.

"No other chip overcomes the regional and technical limitations of on-the-go TV for PCs like the CrestaTV solution," said George Haber, CrestaTech president and CEO. "By supporting any TV broadcast standard anywhere, we're helping turn laptop PCs into truly mobile media centers, where consumers can experience the ubiquity of the Internet with broadcast television at the same time."

On display at booth 215, the CrestaTV Universal Broadband Receiver supports formats including DVBT, ATSC, Cable QAM, NTSC and PAL, along with FM radio and GPS capabilities.

CrestaTV is comprised of the CTC-200/201 programmable RF and Interface IC and multi- threaded signal processing software. The fully integrated solution eliminates all external filters. Supported frequencies include 45Mhz to 1GHz - and L1 band. OEMs can implement CrestaTV on PCI express cards for desktops and PCI mini-express cards or USB TV modules for laptops.

CrestaTech also offers a suite of companion software applications, CrestaWare, which provide fast channel scanning, enhanced reception, TV and radio tower geo-location and more. It also has an open platform for the development of social media and user-generated content programs.

Samples and evaluation boards are available for designers to quickly prototype and test global TV reception. Contact CrestaTech to arrange a demonstration or with any product requests.

About CrestaTech - The Programmable Broadband Company

Founded in 2005, CrestaTech (www.crestatech.com)is the first company to provide a software-defined silicon solution that can be programmed to work with the widest range of broadband frequencies and wireless standards used in laptops and portable devices. The initial area the company will tackle is the PCTV market with a universal solution for the reception of analog and digital TV, radio and GPS called CrestaTV. The flexible nature of the CrestaTech Programmable Broadband technology will target ever more portable and mobile devices and emerging communications protocols. A venture backed startup headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., CrestaTech is led by an experienced management team with extensive backgrounds in programmable RF, algorithms and parallel processing.

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New CrestaTV Technology Significantly Lowers Notebook Development Costs and Design Time; Enables Mass Market PCTV Capability

SAN JOSE, CA, January 7, 2009, 2008 - CrestaTech™ plans to change the way people view TV on their PCs, whether they're at home or on-the-go. CrestaTV™ Universal Broadband Receiver technology combines a programmable RF IC and software that will allow PCs to receive region free, live analog or digital TV broadcast, radio and GPS signals.

By relying on the multi-core parallel processing CPUs like the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo to do the heavy lifting, CrestaTV programmable silicon receiver and software solution unleashes unprecedented support for the widest variety of broadband frequencies ever. And by adding social media application support, notebooks and netbooks will be able to deliver a live broadcast TV experience that can be as interactive and ubiquitous as Internet content.

"Various mobile TV technologies have been introduced, yet they are too standard-specific to enable broad spread adoption," said George Haber, CrestaTech president and CEO. "CrestaTV programmable software and hardware brings together a novel combination of TV, radio and GPS reception that will take the TV out of the living room and put it into people's hands. Imagine watching live TV broadcasts of election night, sports events or favorite shows and interacting with your friends on the web from your local coffee shop or wherever your laptop takes you."

CrestaTV - Great for Notebook OEMs

Today's PCTV products are riddled with complications for PC OEMs. Sub-optimal implementations kluge together a variety of receiver chips that meet the needs of specific, and conflicting geographical regions such as ATSC or DVBH or PAL. However, this limits the OEM's ability to provide a mass market TV solution and limits consumers' ability to watch local, live TV wherever they go with their laptop.

Utilizing CrestaTV Universal Broadband Receiver technology, system manufacturers now have a cost-effective, simple silicon solution that supports all major standards via a programmable analog IC and software based signal processing. This allows them to standardize on a system design regardless of the geographic region, which ultimately streamlines the design and deployment process, reducing costs of the overall system.

"Since its inception, OEMs have struggled with the ever-changing regional television broadcast standards," said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie research. "The notebook computer is generally the media hub for most people, so offering live TV broadcast anywhere can open a whole new host of application and usage models."

CrestaTech's aim is to turn the laptop into a truly mobile media center, where consumers can experience the ubiquity of the Internet with broadcast television. CrestaTV brings broadcast TV directly to the laptop and the GPS quickly brings up the local channel guide. The overall solution is region free and works with any analog or digital terrestrial or cable TV signal as well as any radio broadcast. Then, CrestaTech further transforms the notebook experience by adding social networking, where users can enjoy "friends and family style" TV watching and sharing of personal content with anyone on the web who also has live TV capability.

CrestaTV - Tech Specs and Availability

CrestaTV is comprised of the CTC-200/201 programmable RF and Interface IC and multi-threaded signal processing software. The total solution dissipates only 500mW of power under maximum load. Supported frequencies include 42-864MHz and L1 band. OEMs can implement CrestaTV on PCI express cards for desktops and PCI mini-express cards or USB TV sticks for laptops.

CrestaTech offers a suite of companion software applications, CrestaWare, that provides fast channel scanning, enhanced reception and TV and radio tower geo-location and more, as well as an open platform for the development of social media and user generated content programs.

CrestaTV will be available for evaluation in the second quarter of '09 with product expected to reach consumers later in the year. Before then, CrestaTech will be demonstrating CrestaTV on a variety of standards in HD live during the CES 2009 show in Las Vegas by private appointment only. To book a meeting, contact Ramon Cazares at ramon.cazares@crestatech.com or call 408-969-0001 x401.

"CrestaTV universal broadband receiver technology has the potential to make PCTV a mass consumer capability versus a niche, enthusiast feature as it is today," concluded Haber. "PCTV is the first frontier, but since programmable broadband technology is so flexible and multi-core processors are improving every day, CrestaTech plans to exploit emerging communications protocols like Wimax, Wi-Fi 2.0 and even 3G/4G in the future."

About CrestaTech - The Programmable Broadband Company

Founded in 2005, CrestaTech (www.crestatech.com)is the first company to provide a software-defined silicon solution that can be programmed to work with the widest range of broadband frequencies and wireless standards used in laptops and portable devices. The initial area the company will tackle is the PCTV market with a universal solution for the reception of analog and digital TV, radio and GPS called CrestaTV. The flexible nature of the CrestaTech Programmable Broadband technology will target ever more portable and mobile devices and emerging communications protocols. A venture backed startup headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., CrestaTech is led by an experienced management team with extensive backgrounds in programmable RF, algorithms and parallel processing.

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