Press Releases

Integrated system slices power consumption, costs; cuts need for can tuner

SANTA CLARA, Calif., and LAS VEGAS, Jan. 06, 2010 – Helping usher in the next generation of super-skinny TVs, CrestaTech today revealed its first single-chip broadcast silicon TV tuner that meets all the performance and quality requirements of digital televisions – but without the need for a bulky can tuner box.

Designed from the ground up to be a perfect complement for flat-panel TVs and related applications, the new CrestaTech CTC-200 Broadcast and Cable Silicon TV Tuner outperforms mechanical can tuners, while achieving lower cost and using less power. Further, the CrestaTech CTC-200 achieves the lowest system cost and power dissipation in its class of silicon solutions.

The semiconductor company announced its advanced tuning system in conjunction with 2010 International CES in Las Vegas, the world's largest consumer technology trade show. Besides televisions, the CrestaTech CTC-200 is designed to support PC-TV express cards and mini express cards, USB TV dongles, gaming systems and set-top boxes as well as all broadcast and cable standards.

"Traditional can tuners are yesterday's technology, not tomorrow's. The unique CTC-200 architecture integrates all tuner circuitry into one simple, small package that's easy to add into ever-thinner TVs, while delivering outstanding reception across digital, analog and cable," said George Haber, CrestaTech chairman and CEO. "Since our technology consumes 50 percent less power than competitive devices and costs less too, our innovations will benefit device manufacturers and end users alike."

The CTC-200 Broadcast and Cable Silicon TV Tuner will support formats including ATSC, PAL/SECAM, NTSC, QAM, DVB-C/T/H, ISDB-T, DTMB, T-DMB and DAB. Other key characteristics of the 7x7mm device include:

• Architecture built in an advanced BiCMOS process that achieves excellent noise performance needed for large-screen flat-panel TVs.
• A minimal system bill of materials (BOM) with fully integrated filters, LNA and VCO that makes the chip easy to configure for any TV platform.
• A total solution that dissipates only 550mW of power under maximum load.
• Supported frequencies that include 45 to 1000 MHz and L1 band.

A CTC-200 evaluation kit is immediately available for designers to prototype and test applications. The kit contains an evaluation board with an easy interface to channel decoders, a user guide, a datasheet and PC-based control software.

Private meetings are available at 2010 International CES to view CrestaTech technology. To book an appointment, call Ramon Cazares at 408.969.0001.

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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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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Santa Clara, CA – April 30, 2009 – CrestaTech, a semiconductor company, announced today its status as a finalist of the "Red Herring 100 North America" award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures in North America.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of 1,200. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list an invaluable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

"This year was especially difficult," said Alex Vieux, Publisher and CEO of Red Herring. "There were so many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products that we had a difficult time narrowing it down to 200. Now we’re faced with the arduous task of selecting the final 100. We know that this year’s crop will grow into some amazing companies that are sure to go far."

For over 10 years, The Red Herring 100 North America award, open to private technology companies headquartered in North America, has been given to the top 100 tech companies based upon their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of companies in the telecom, communications, security, Web 2.0, software, hardware, biotech, and clean tech industries sent in their submissions to qualify for the award.

The CEOs of the 200 finalists are invited to present their winning strategies at the Red Herring Conference in San Diego, where the Red Herring Top 100 will be announced.

About Red Herring

Red Herring is a global media company uniting the world's best high technology innovators, venture investors, and business decision-makers in a variety of forums: a leading innovation magazine; an online daily technology news service; technology newsletters, and major events for technology leaders around the globe. Red Herring provides an insider's access to the global innovation ecosystem, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy. For more information, visit www.redherring.com

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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