Ready made NICAM stereo decoder

[Tomek Swiecicki]

Maybe you are interested:
http://www.mjm.pl/nicam_f15a.html
It is in Polish, but look at the parameters.

This board decodes many sound standards including A2 and NICAM. It needs 5V, 12V and SIF sound input. It outputs analog stereo sound. It is programed to choose the best sound available which would be NICAM both in Poland and in NZ case. It looks it uses Micronas MSP3410D as a decode chip and some onboard microcontroller to program it. It is normally used for converting TV's and VCR's imported from Germany (Stereo A2) to Poland (NICAM).

The price is ~US$27 per piece excluding shipping. I will definitly try it by the next opportunity.

Tomek

[thomson]

it uses Micronas MSP3410D as a decode chip

Hmm... great find... and this is the exact same chip (different form factor) that is used in the UK TiVo units (see my FAQ - NzStereoSupport (http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/view/FAQ/NzStereoSupport)).

By using the Australia Stereo modification instructions it should be possible to use this board to decode the NICAM signal and then feed it into the onboard MSP chip as left/right stereo. Very, very promising...

[Tomek Swiecicki]

Just in case somebody wanted to order: There a 2 versions: for 38.9MHz SIF and 38MHz SIF signal. Samsung tuner seems to use 38.9MHz standard, so don't make a mistake.

[thomson]

Tomek, have you done this modification? While my main TiVo (UK) already supports Nicam, I am considering getting Nicam up and going on my secondary unit (US).

[thomson]

FYI: These boards output A2 Stereo and I do not think the MSP3430G supports this format. However the MSP3410D does, so with an MSP replacement (and one of these boards) NICAM stereo could still be possible.