Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen PC Teardown

Main Features / Overview

This device, the Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen Kitchen Entertainment System, which at first appears to be a basic PC with some media features, is in fact primarily a kitchen-specific 'entertainment center' focused on television and stereo functionality. It features a 12.1 LCD display, DVD, Audio / MP3 player functionality, washable sealed wireless (infrared) keyboard, can be hooked up to Ethernet using included PCMCIA Ethernet adapter. A key marketing feature for this system is that it can also control Westinghouse brand appliances (sold separately), such as a microwave oven and coffee maker.

Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen PC Main Image

The Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S is a multimedia device, primarily a television and stereo that also features basic PC functionality however, there is no hard drive - only a DVD/CD tray for media. This particular model is designed for installation in a kitchen and permanently mounts underneath cupboards. The LCD screen flips down and is pivotable for convenient viewing.

Inside the electronic design is quite old for a consumer electronic device, and relies on a large number of components which are near or past their end of life and into obsolescence, making manufacturing a challenge for the future both from a cost and product availability perspective.

High-end retail consumers - luxury homes, etc.

Release

Unknown - however since most literature is dated 2004, and as some of the parts are as new as 2004, it seems that it was released sometime in 2004.

Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen PC - PCMCIA Card Interface PCB - Top Ics

Retail from ""Beyond Connected Home" ~$2000 for mounted version (this model), $1500 for countertop version.

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this cost analysis we have assumed a total production volume over product lifetime of 500,000 units of this particular model.

Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen PC - Box Contents & Accessories

Functional testing was not performed on the Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen Kitchen Entertainment System.

Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen PC Cost Analysis

As mentioned below, we were surprised at how old the components were that are used in this design. Most of these chips are old, and either close to being obsolete or obsolete already. This can adversely affect a buyer's ability to source the parts, and usually means paying, especially for obsolete components, very steep premiums to continue production. Most of the chips used seem to have been released in the 1999 - 2001 timeframe, and the date codes on the produced product ranges from early 2000's to 2004. This is not a fresh electronics device.

We have assumed only moderate discount on most of these components, and have not assumed any aggressive discounting on most components, given the age of the design. Indeed, it is entirely possible that some components may be hard to source, due to obsolescence, driving costs up to unknown highs. These special situations are not accounted for in this teardown, but might have a strong effect on total pricing.

Main Cost Drivers representing approximately 86% of total materials costs

Display (12.1" TV Panel with 4 wire resistive touch screen overlay) $255.00

Integrated Circuit content $94.92

Electro-Mechanical Content $51.60

Mechanical Conrtent $32.77

Materials and Manufacturing*

* - The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect only the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), manufacturing and test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the manufacture of the core device itself - cost of 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 itself.

Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen PC - Box Contents & Accessories

Country of Origin / EMS Provider

It appears that much of these units were built by HannStar, based in Taiwan. However, as the units were labeled made in China, we have assumed, in cases where subsystems (such as the optical drives or power supplies) were not clearly labeled as to country of origin, that these devices were also manufactured in China.

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

This system is relatively unique to us, in that we have not torn down directly competitive devices. So it is difficult for us to comment on the relative complexity of these systems when compared with competing systems. However, from a sheer component count perspective, the ICEBOX flipscreen device, at a total component count of 1371 components, this flipscreen system is relatively complex, and on the order of a PC. Most of the components, however are non-mechanical, as there are only 186 of these mechanical components. As is often the case with electronic components - most of these are passive components (resistors, capacitors, etc.) which don't tend to be a major component cost item, but drive manufacturing costs up due to their sheer numbers.

Design Notes

Electronic / Mechanical Design - An Ancient Design

The parts on these boards are very old, with many component date codes from 2001 to 2004, possibly older. Furthermore, the design itself is ancient. It features a series of trailing edge, and some obsolete components. For a consumer product this is rare to see a design based on such old and obsolete parts. The core processor, for example, is a National Semiconductor Geode processor. National Semiconductor sold the Geode processors to AMD back in 2004. But that's not all - again much of the product is becoming, or is already obsolete. This definitely wreaks havoc on supply chain continuity (getting product to build the units), and also can drive up costs, as manufacturers are generally not keen to erode product pricing on products that are EOL, and those that are outright obsolete, it's a seller's market.

Chip or Component Summary by Functional Area or Assembly

Main PCB

A/V Processing

• MPEG2 Decoder - Sigma Designs - EM8401 - Audio/Video, 2.5V Core, 3.3V I/Os
• Power Amplifier - Texas Instruments - TPA3002D2PHP - Audio, Class D, 9W, w/ DC Volume Control
• Audio Codec - National Semiconductor - LM4549AVH - AC97 Multi-Channel & National 3D Sound
• Audio Processor / Stereo Decoder - Philips Semiconductor - TDA9853H

CPU

• CPU - National Semiconductor - SC3200UFH-266 - Integrated 32-bit x86 System Chips, 266MHz, 1.8V Core

Front End

• Video Decoder - Philips Semiconductor - SAA7114H - PAL/NTSC/SECAM, Adaptive PAL/NTSC Comb Filter, VBA Data Slicer and High Performance Scaler
• Tuner Module - Philips Semiconductor - FM1236/F H-3 - RTMA M/N Video & FM Radio

I/O & Interface

• PC Card Controller - Texas Instruments - PCI1420GHK - Supports Two Independent Card Sockets, 3.3V Core, Serial EEPROM Interface
• Microcontroller - Motorola - MC68HC908SR12CFA - 8-Bit, 512 Bytes On-Chip RAM
• I/O Controller - National Semiconductor - PC87360-ICK/VLA - Super I/O Devices

Memory

• Flash Disk-On-Chip - M-Systems - MD2202-D32-V3 - 32MB NAND, 3.3V
• SDRAM - Samsung - K4S561632E-TC75 - 256Mb (16Mx4bitx4banks), 3.3V, 166MHz @CL3
• DRAM - Hynix - HY57V643220CT-6 - 64Mb, 4 Banks x 512K x 32Bit, 166MHz, 3.3V

Power Supply

• Regulator Controller - National Semiconductor - LM2636M - Dual 5-Bit, Programmable Synchronous Buck

Other Assemblies

Display

• HannStar - HSD121MS11-A - 12.1' TFT LCD, Color, 800x600 (SVGA), 400Cd/m2

Power Supply

• Li Shin International - 0319D0390 - Switching, ~92.75W

Storage Device

• Raymedia - RL-A700(xxxx) - DVD/CD ROM Drive, 2X/4X

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Westinghouse ICEBOX WBIBFS04S Flipscreen PC - Main Unit - Disassembling