Customers expect to get flawless experiences at home when watching their favorite TV content on smartphones, tablets, and set-top-boxes using their wireless networks. Coverage limitations create frustration and restrict the potential for services provided over Wi-Fi, leading Multiple Service Operators (MSO) to look for cost-effective and flexible solutions that are easy to install and enable uncompromised multi-room multimedia services.

Addressing the need for economical high-quality HD video within the whole home, ST has joined forces with Quantenna to create the Cannes Wi-Fi (STiH390) SoC. The new chipset integrates Quantenna's proven Wi-Fi 802.11 IP with ST's latest-generation HD HEVC SoC to push down cost without compromising on performance.

"We expect this breakthrough solution to become a reference HD video-over-Wi-Fi solution that advances large-scale deployment of powerful and affordable Wi-Fi IP clients," said Philippe Notton, Group Vice President and General Manager of STMicroelectronics Consumer Product Division. "With the Cannes Wi-Fi SoC, we have optimized the integration of Quantenna's Wi-Fi 802.11 IP for both cost and speed and we've validated and confirmed its exceptional performance on new and existing video-distribution use cases to fully leverage the latest Wi-Fi 802.11 ac features."

"We are delighted to see ST be first to market with a set-top-box SoC integrating 4x4 11ac Wi-Fi. This is the first ST product to include Quantenna's digital baseband IP enabling the next level of silicon integration that customers want," said Lionel Bonnot, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Quantenna. "This baseband supports 4x4 802.11ac/11n wave2, delivering state-of-the-art Wi-Fi performance and robustness required for reliable video delivery inside the home."

The Cannes Wi-Fi's compatibility with ST's Cannes SoC family enables OEMs to leverage the existing large ecosystem to easily design innovative client boxes on multiple middleware products.

Features:

－ Multi-core ARM CPU capable of delivering 6K DMIPS;

－ Wi-Fi 802.11.ac 4x4;

－ Support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) content decode and display for outstanding visual effects on latest-generation TV sets;

－ Mali(TM) 400 GPU for fluid 3D user interface and gaming;

－ Faroudja post-processing Video Transcode Engine for superior image quality in multi-screen scenarios;

－ HEVC 10-bit performance proven by extensive interoperability tests performed with all major encoder providers;

－ A rich set of future-proof connectivity options including USB3 and HDMI; Advanced DRM-based secure video- content protection;

－ 28nm FD-SOI silicon technology, providing highly-efficient RF and analog integration as well as outstanding power efficiency enabling very small fan-less designs.