Sigma Media Processors to Be Used on Pirelli's IPTV Set-Top Boxes

MILPITAS, Calif. — Sigma Designs (Nasdaq:SIGM), a leader in digital media processing SoCs for consumer electronics, today announced that its highly integrated SMP8634 media processor is being used by Pirelli Broadband Solutions, to power their line of IPTV set-top boxes, which are currently being deployed by two major European operators.

Demand for IPTV has been sweeping across Europe over the past two years, where the vast majority of the 10 million worldwide IPTV subscribers are located. Over the past 2 years, nearly every major European Telco offers IPTV video services, with deployments split between the Microsoft Mediaroom platform and a range of Linux based platforms.

"By using Sigma's line of media processors, our set-top boxes are able to offer rich features, an outstanding viewing experience, and a cost-effective system design. Advanced SoC platforms allow us to unleash a number of original features that we develop to help carriers differentiate their offerings, beyond basic IPTV," said Corrado Rocca, Senior Vice President, Product Marketing and Development of Pirelli.

Pirelli's portfolio of hybrid set-top boxes brings together IPTV and digital terrestrial TV in one multimedia platform, enabling a wide range of content bundles to be secured through a variety of conditional access system standards and digital rights management technologies. Pirelli's set-top boxes are based on Sigma's single-chip technology and support legacy and new encoding standards such as H.264 and VC-1 at both standard and high definition. Pirelli set-top boxes can be equipped with hard drives of various storage capacities, providing additional capabilities such as local video recording, recorded-services playback, live TV pause, and time-shift recording.

"We are excited about our continued expansion of IPTV customers in Europe," said Ken Lowe, vice president of strategic marketing for Sigma Designs. "We have worked very hard to develop our industry leading media processors and intend to continue that focus to ensure their successful use by Pirelli."

About Sigma's SMP8634 Media Processor

Sigma's SMP8634 media processor integrates a complete complement of next-generation capabilities for a single-chip system-on-chip (SOC) solution with powerful multimedia processing, robust content security system, and a full complement of peripherals. Its advanced decoder engines support video decoding of H.264 (MPEG-4 part 10), Windows Media(R) Video 9, VC-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (part 2) with multiple streams, up to the equivalent of two high-definition video streams. High-performance graphics acceleration, multi-standard audio decoding, advanced display processing capabilities, and HDMI/HDCP output round out its multimedia core. Powerful content security is ensured through a dedicated secure processor, flash memory, and a range of digital rights management (DRM) engines for high-speed payload decryption. The SMP8634's 300-Mhz host CPU, 3.2 GB/second unified memory controller, Ethernet 10/100 controller, dual USB 2.0 controller, and IDE controller provide for a single-chip solution for most set-top boxes and consumer players.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements about the projected timing and extent of customer shipments as well as the expected use of Sigma's media processor and wireless chipset products. Actual results could vary from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including worldwide economic conditions, changes in the customer's ability or desire to complete the rollout, consumer reaction to the new products and services being offered, the ability of Sigma to deliver sufficient quantity and quality of MPEG decoder chips, prices for the Sigma chips, alternative offerings by competitors, and the ability of the parties to work together successfully to achieve the rollout.

About Sigma Designs, Inc. Sigma Designs (Nasdaq:SIGM) specializes in silicon-based media processors and wireless chipsets for IPTV set-top boxes, digital media receivers, high definition DVD players, HDTV, and portable media players. The company's industry-leading media processor architectures feature high definition video, advanced codec support (H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2), and secure media processing in a complete system-on-chip (SOC) solution. Headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., the company also has sales offices in China, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. For more information, please visit the company's web site at www.sigmadesigns.com.