Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 LCD Television Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 LCD television is Sony's second generation direct LED backlit television utilizing their new Triluminos RGB LED backlight technology. First announced in early 2008, the full HD (1080p) LCD television boost an eye-popping 1,00,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. As opposed to the first generation of white LED Bravia XBR5, Sony implemented a backlit design using an array of 288 RBG LED clusters. By implementing intelligent color controls and localized diming, the Bravia XBR8 unit is capable of creating display contrast performance rivaling that of elite PDP television sets.

Overall, the high end Sony 46 LCD flat panel television features class leading specifications such as 120Hz frame rate, 10-bit panel processing, networking via Bravia Link, DLNA capable and built in ATSC/NTSC/QAM tuner. This rich feature set adds to the overall electronic complexity of the television set and distinguishes the XBR8 as one of the most IC dense television units we have analyzed to date. Physically, the 5.75 inch thick flat panel Bravia XBR8 television comes with side mounted speakers attached onto Sony's famous floating glass design which lends to the very premium overall aesthetics.

Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 LCD Television Main Image

High end consumers

Released

Per press releases, first release in US on Q3 2008.

Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 LCD Television - Main PCB Top

Pricing - The 46 inch version of the Bravia XBR8 retails for approximately $4700 at the time of writing (March 2009). However, discount online retailer sells the unit for as low as $3800. As a comparison, ordinary backlit (i.e. CCFL) 46 inch televisions typically retails for under $2000.

Availability - assumed to be global

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed a lifetime production volume of 150K units.

As a reminder, teardown volume production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 LCD Television - Main PCB Bottom

Within the North America LCD television market, the top 3 players are Samsung with 23.4% followed by Sony with 17.2% and Sharp at 10.9% based on a research by iSuppli titled ""Television Systems Q4 2008 Market Tracker". Of interesting note, low cost leader Visio is catching up with both Sharp and Sony as a contender but Samsung should remain the volume leader within this particular market.

Specifically for Sony, the company has been aggressive in their pricing strategy and pushing newer feature sets such as 120Hz refresh rate and LED backlit into the marketplace in order to maintain their premium brand recognition.

Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 LCD Television Cost Analysis

Main Cost Drivers Representing ~87% of total materials cost

Display

S-LCD - LTY460HE05 - LCD Display Unit - TFT, WUXGA, 46' Diagonal, 1920 x 1080 Pixels (16:9), 0.530mm x 0.530mm Pixel Size, 16.7M Colors, Active Area: 1017mm x 572mm

Mechanicals

Enclosure, Main, Rear - Injection Molded Flame Retardant ABS-Polycarbonate & Polystyrene

Front Enclosure Frame - Injection Molded Clear Polycarbonate, Silkscreened

Enclosure, Main, Front - Injection Molded Flame Retardant ABS-Polycarbonate

Front Faceplate - Injection Molded Clear Acrylic, Painted, Silkscreened, w/ PSA

Stand Base Plate - Stamped / Formed Paint-Loc Steel

Wire Harness - 41 26AWG Discrete Insulated Wire, w/ 1 5-Position, 1 7-Position, 1 15-Position, & 1 36-Position Pin Socket Connector, 1 5-Position & 1 32-Position Board to Cable Connector, Mylar Tape & Conductive Cloth Laminate Wrap, & 2 Ferrite Core

PCB Mounting Support - Stamped / Formed Paint-Loc Steel, 3 Pieces, Pressed

Main PCB

AMD - Xilleon 245H - TV-On-Chip - Integrated MIPS RISC CPU, Demodulator & Decoder for ATSC/QAM Standards (Based on Xilleon 240)

6-Layer - FR4, Lead-Free

Silicon Image - SiI9151CLU - HDMI Input Processor - HDMI 1.3, w/ HDCP Cipher Engine (Based on SiI9153)

LVDS Interface PCB

NEC (Sony) - CXD9935GB - LVDS Receiver (Assumed)

Fujitsu (Sony) - CXD9929GB - LVDS Splitter (Assumed)

I/O Interface PCB

Fujitsu - MB91F318R - MCU - 32-Bit, RISC, 40MHz, 48KB RAM, I2C Interface, w/ DMA & Interrupt Controller, 10-Bit ADC, & 16-Bit Reload Timer

Nan Ya PCB - 4-Layer - FR4, Lead-Free

Box Contents

Remote Control Unit

Power Supply

Sony - Power Supply - for Main Power

Total BOM Cost $1637.54

What Is Not Included in our Cost Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

Manufacturing Notes

OEM/ODM/EMS Relationships / Manufacturing

According to iSuppli's EMS and ODM Market Analysis research on flat panel televisions titled, ""Global OEM Manufacturing and Design Analysis - Q3 2007", Sony manufactures nearly all of their flat panel television internally. Manufacturing facilities are spread across 3 continents to address specific markets. Within North America, Sony has a manufacturing facility within Tijuana, Mexico. In Asia, Sony has 2 facilities in China and Japan. Further, in Europe, Sony operates 3 facilities - 2 in Slovakia and 1 in Barcelona, Spain.

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on markings, the unit was assembled in Mexico. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc.) were also sourced close to assembly within Mexico.

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as LCD display panel), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Remember also that labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. ""Auto" inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 has an overall component count of 3829. This total represents the sum of the discrete parts with exceptions of the display and the 2 power supplies which were treated as a single finished module. This total represents an elevated sum when compared to previously analyzed LCD televisions which typically run in the neighborhood of 2000 parts. Majority of the increased complexity comes in the forms of more densely populated PCBs which is a direct result from the enhancements in feature set.

Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design. The cost of manufacturing is also, to some extent, decreased in this case because of assumed labor rate applied for Mexico.

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

Design Notes

There are 2 design features of note in the Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8:

RGB LED backlight array: This television represents the first direct backlit RGB solution we have come across. Sony's design uses 6 uniform backlight panels in a 3 x 2 array [refer to presentation photos] to cover the 46 inch display area and is situated about 4 inches behind the LCD panel. Each RGB panel contains an array of 48 RGB LED clusters - each with 4 color LEDs (1 Red, 2 Green and 1 Blue) on an aluminum substrate along with an individual controller PCB. This RGB backlit design is, by far, the most complex and intrigue solution we have yet to come across and adds significant cost to the overall BOM.

Core Electronics: The Bravia XBR8 is rich on electronics and integrated circuits. At the high level, there are 2 large Sony label ICs (CXD3821GB & CXD4716BGB) for video processing. The larger of the 2 made by Fujitsu (CXD3821GB) is a video enhancer chip which exhibits the highest pincount within the BOM at 1156. Furthermore, at the LVDS Interface PCB, we find 2 other Sony branded solutions for LVDS splitter and receiver made by Fujitsu and NEC (CXD9929GB & CXD9935GB) at a pincount of 676 each. An AMD TV-on-Chip solution rounds out the top 5 design slots at 672 pincount.

Here is a summary of the major components used in the Sony Bravia XBR8 LCD TV design:

Display

• TFT - S-LCD -LTY460HE05

Main PCB

Audio/Video Processing

• Video Enhancer - Fujitsu (Sony) - CXD3821GB
• Video Processor - Sony - CXD4716BGB

Front End

• TV-On-Chip - AMD - Xilleon 245H

I/O & Interface

• HDMI Input Processor - Silicon Image - SiI9151CLU

MCU & Glue Logic

• MCU - Fujitsu - MB91305

Memory

• SDRAM - Elpida - EDD1232ABBH-5C-E (Qty. 3)

LVDS Interface PCB

I/O & Interface

• LVDS Splitter - Fujitsu (Sony) - CXD9929GB
• LVDS Receiver - NEC (Sony) - CXD9935GB

Memory

• SDRAM - Elpida - EDD1232ABBH-5C-E (Qty. 2)

I/O Interface PCB

MCU & Glue Logic

• MCU - Fujitsu - MB91F318R

I/O & Interface

• Audio/Video Switch Matrix - Sony - CXA2240AR

Audio/Video Processing

• Digital Audio Processor - Texas Instruments (Sony) - CXD9926ATQ

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Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 LCD Television - Box Contents