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Silicon Upside for Next-Generation Ultra-Slim TVs

During the past thirty years, television channel tuners have moved beyond TV sets, and found their way into Cable TV set-top boxes and Cable Modems, PC-TV tuners, and Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) set-top boxes. Many satellite and telco pay-TV set-top boxes also include broadcast TV tuners.

Although traditional can-type TV tuners are still the mainstream approach being used for high-volume television sets, the next-generation of ultra-slim TVs will need compact Silicon Tuners to enable thinner circuit boards, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.

Smaller-screen TVs that need to add digital reception capabilities will also benefit from smaller, less power-hungry Silicon Tuners.

"During this decade, the global market for TV Tuners will make an epochal transition from traditional can-type TV Tuners to all solid state Silicon Tuners" says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst.

The silicon tuner contenders have already displaced the can tuners in most Satellite TV and Cable TV set-top boxes, and in Personal Video Recorder (PVR) end-products.

In-Stat's market study findings include:

- The worldwide silicon tuner market will top $500 Million by 2014.

- Western European Shipments of silicon tuners in TV sets will exceed 16 million units in 2014.

- Asia Pacific shipments of silicon TV tuners in set-top boxes will more than triple between 2010 and 2014.

- Silicon Tuners create pull-through for Systems-on Chips (SoCs) that include demodulators, video decoders and graphics capabilities.

- Can-type Tuners will gradually lose market share to Silicon Tuners through 2014.

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