Broadcom is rolling out two new set-top boxes designed to enable networked TV across a home that has either digital or cathode ray tube TVs.  The Irvine-based semiconductor manufacturer will provide real world demos here at CES of the Broadcom BCM7208 with 1080p60 HD output and the BCM7468, which works with standard def and coaxial cable to enable features such as picture-in-picture, multi-room DVR and resolution of up to 480p.

The “system-on-a-chip” (SoC) solutions utilize single 16-bit DDR2 or DDR3 memory circuits to decode SD or HD, respectively.  Broadcom emphasized the integration of the RVU Alliance remote user interface (RUI) specs, designed to provide “pixel accurate” consistency across a consumer’s networked audio/video devices.

Broadcom’s SoC platform includes a DLNA client, enabling consumers to locate and access digital content anywhere on their home network and move or stream it between DLNA-connected devices.  It also supports IP over TV, Adobe Flash, Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) and the CEA-2014 standard (which, as per the CEA website: “defines the necessary mechanisms to allow a user interface to be remotely displayed on and controlled by devices or control points other than the one hosting the logic”).

Broadcom’s media advisory cited a DisplaySearch study indicating more than 120 million CRT sets still in service in the US and over 150 million in Western Europe.  Of those existing CRT TVs in North America, the data indicates 80% are analog only.