Sigma Brews MoCA Set-Top Chip With Entropic

Sigma Designs, which provides digital media processing system-on-a-chip solutions for consumer electronics, is working with Entropic Communications to develop high-definition set-top box reference designs that support the Multimedia over Coax Alliance standard for home networks.

The companies plan to debut the reference designs this fall, incorporating Entropic's EN2510 MoCA 1.1-compliant single-chip solution and Sigma's SMP8654 media processor system-on-a-chip. The MoCA 1.1 spec provides up to 175 Mbps of application-layer throughput and supports up to 16 nodes, allowing devices to distribute multiple streams of HD video and other content like music and photos.

"The collaboration with Entropic for our cable TV and IPTV reference designs will enable higher quality solutions with faster time-to-market for the rapid deployment of MoCA-enabled set-top boxes," Sigma vice president of strategic marketing Ken Lowe said in a statement.