National Semiconductor Announces Complete Video Solution for CRT Displays

Three New CMOS Video Preamplifiers With Integrated OSD Optimize System Cost, Display Performance And Ease of Design in CRT Monitors

BOSTON, SID 2002, May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: NSM - News), the leader in analog video processing solutions for displays, today introduced three new CMOS video preamplifiers with internal On Screen Display (OSD) for CRT monitors. The I2C compatible preamplifiers join National's highly integrated, low cost family offering CRT manufacturers a complete portfolio of neckboard solutions for any size and resolution monitor, from 14" to 21," with a choice of OSD support. National will demonstrate a system featuring the new preamplifiers at the Society for Information Display (SID) conference this week.

The single chip LM1237, LM1238 and LM1247 each provides high integration, low cost and best-in-class display performance. The preamplifiers, all pin-to-pin compatible and well matched to National's integrated bias clamp ICs and CRT drivers, feature either icon-based or character-based OSD generators. The preamplifiers reduce the cost and effort required to implement an OSD, while surpassing the quality, flexibility and ease-of-use of any OSD available today.

"Our customers, facing tremendous price pressure, limited development resources and a maturing market, are demanding increasing levels of integration and system support from their suppliers," said Muthanna Salman, Director of Marketing for CRT Displays. "With the only integrated CMOS preamplifier and OSD on the market, National now offers a complete solution for the entire CRT monitor neckboard, providing the best performance, highest level of integration and lowest cost for any application."

"National's continued product innovation for CRT monitors has produced a series of preamplifiers that deliver superior value through a high level of integration, low cost and enhanced OSD features," said Morris Wang, Executive Vice President of Proview Technology. "Particularly important is the pin-to-pin compatibility of the LM1238 and LM1237, which enables us to leverage a single design to meet the requirements of any monitor model."

Technical Features and Benefits

National's LM1237 is a 150MHz, I2C compatible CMOS RGB video preamplifier with internal 254 character OSD. It contains 192 two-color and 64 four-color characters with an option to program up to 318 two-color characters. The mask programmable characters are defined in a 12x18 (WxH) matrix and displayed in a 512 character page RAM. The LM1237 controls all the parameters necessary to directly setup and adjust the gain and contrast of a CRT display. Brightness and bias can be controlled through the DAC outputs, which are well matched to National's LM2480 and LM2479 integrated bias clamp ICs.

National's LM1247 provides the same features and bandwidth of the LM1237, but instead offers a 512 character OSD with 128 four-color characters that can be used to extend the OSD capacity to as many as 640 two-color characters.

National's LM1238 is a 110MHz, I2C compatible CMOS RGB video preamplifier that introduces a new concept in OSD. Pin-to-pin compatible with the LM1237 and LM1247, the LM1238 contains an entirely language independent, icon-based OSD. This graphical OSD eliminates the majority of the development time and firmware needed to design and program OSD pages. A standard set of icons is programmed into the LM1238 ROM and the manufacturer simply addresses the relevant adjustment icon to display an OSD page. The entire sequence can be completed with just two bytes of information.

Pricing and Availability

National's LM1237 and LM1238 preamplifiers, both in 24-pin DIP, are available now. In 1,000 unit quantities, the LM1237 costs $3.50 and the LM1238 costs $1.75. The LM1247, also in a 24-pin DIP, is sampling now and will be released to production in August. The LM1247 will cost $4.00 in 1,000 unit quantity. Further information is posted at www.national.com/appinfo/displays/index.html .

Design tools are available, including a reference design for a CRT neckboard along with layout review services, and a software tool for product evaluation and design of custom fonts and OSD pages. Contact your local National sales office for further information.

See National at SID 2002

National Semiconductor will demonstrate a system featuring the new preamplifiers at SID 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts, May 19-24, in National's booth number 3311. More information on National's activities at SID can be found at www.national.com/events/.

About National Semiconductor

National Semiconductor is the premier analog company driving the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of-the-art digital technology, the company is focused on the fast growing markets for wireless handsets; displays; information appliances; and information infrastructure. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $2.1 billion for its last fiscal year and has about 9,800 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.

NOTE: National is a registered trademark of National Semiconductor Corporation. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.