Motorola DCH6416 Set-Top Box Teardown

Main Features

The DCH6416 is an analog-digital, set-top box from Motorola that is at the high-end of the DCH range as it is an HD-capable, DVR box with dual tuners, data features and interfaces and supports separable security in the form of a CableCARD.

Motorola DCH6416 Set-Top Box Main Image

Captive customer base of cable service providers.

Released

January 2007 assumed per date of press release at this time which seems to coincide with Cisco (Scientific Atlanta) press release for CableCARD compliant boxes.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for this kind of product (at the consumer level) is typically meaningless as it is a completely subsidized part of a service package. Cable set-top boxes are typically rented out to subscribers on a monthly schedule in accordance with the service contract which varies region to region within the North American market. Since the device cannot function without being properly set-up by a service provider, after-market product and prices have no validity.

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed that 1.25M units of this STB will be produced during the product lifetime. This volume estimate is in line with our previous estimations for similar types of cable STB.

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 increment by an order of magnitude. Minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis.|

Motorola_DCH6416_Set-Top_Box_(iSi)/Motorola_DCH6416_Set-Top_Box_(iSi)_-_Main_PCB_Bottom.jpg

No performance testing was performed.

Cost Notes

Main Cost Drivers Representing ~72% of Total Materials Costs

Seagate - ST3160215SCE - Hard Drive - 160GB, 3.5', SATA, 7200RPM, 2MB Buffer

Broadcom - BCM7038JKPB1 - Dual Channel HD Video/Audio/Graphics System on Chip - 300MHz, 64-Bit MIPS CPU

LSI Logic - DMN-8802 - Dual Encode Processor - Dual RISC Core, 32MB SDRAM, 27MHz Clock

Multi-Stream Cable Card

Broadcom - BCM3250KPB - Front End - Single-Chip QAMLINK Advanced Set-Top Box

UniMicron Technology ?Main PCB - 6-Layer - FR4

Liteon - PB-8600-3 - Power Supply - 60W, Input AC100-120, 50/60Hz, 7A, Output 2.6V/4.4A, 3.3V/3.95A, 5V/2.05A, 6V/1.5A, 9V/0.175A, 12V/1.1A, 30V/0.03A, -5V/0.075A

Hynix - HY5DU121622CTP-D43 - SDRAM - DDR, 512Mb (32M x 16), 2.5V, 200MHz@CL3 (Qty:4)

Tuner Module - ATSC Half NIM (Qty:2)

Altera - EP2C5F256C6 - FPGA - Cyclone, 4,608 Logic Elements,119,808 RAM Bits, 158 Max. User I/O's, 2 PLLs

Broadcom - BCM3349KPB - Cable Modem - Single Chip Solution, QAMLink, DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS 2.0

RF Input Module

Futaba - FV881ND - Alphanumeric Display LED - Vacuum Fluorescent Display, 7-Segmented, 4-Digit w/ Icons

Texas Instruments - TSB43DA42AGHC - Microcontroller - Single Chip Solution for IEEE1394a Link-Layer, w/ Integrated 2-Port PHY

NEC - uPD64084GC-8EA - Component Video Separator - Y/C Separation LSI, w/ 4Mbit On-Chip Memory & 10-bit ADC/DAC Converter

Total w/ Manufacturing $222.79

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 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

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on markings, the unit was assembled in Taiwan. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc.) were sourced in China to take advantage of lower cost structures there.

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 can tuners), 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

We tend to use component counts as the one measurable and clearly defined metric by which we can compare and judge the relative complexity of devices and comment as to where a given device fits in the spectrum of overall manufacturing cost and complexity between devices.

The Motorola DCH6416 has a total component count of 2095 (when accounting for the Cable CARD and tuner modules as single items) of which 92 are mechanical components (when breaking out all of the subcomponents of the tuner module and power supplies). This component count is high, but in line with other HD STBs.

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.

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

The core design is based on a Broadcom chipset - BCM7038JKPB1 Dual Channel HD Video/Audio/Graphics System on Chip - 300MHz, 64-Bit MIPS CPU, and a BCM3250KPB Front End chip (both chips also found in the IPTV version of this box from Motorola, the QIP6416.). But the design also features a very significant LSI Logic part - DMN-8802 - Dual Encode Processor.

Beyond these 3 core chips, the most significant IC content in this design would include the Broadcom BCM3349KPB Cable Modem (Single Chip Solution), an Altera EP2C5F256C6 Cyclone FPGA, a Texas Instruments TSB43DA42AGHC Microcontroller, and an NEC uPD64084GC-8EA Component Video Separator.

Main PCB

Audio/Video Processing

Broadcom - BCM7038JKPB1 - Dual Channel HD Video/Audio/Graphics System on Chip - 300MHz, 64-Bit MIPS CPU

LSI Logic - DMN-8802 - Dual Encode Processor - Dual RISC Core, 32MB SDRAM, 27MHz Clock

Conexant - CX25841-23 - AV Decoder - Worldwide Video and BTSC Broadcast

Front-End

Broadcom - BCM3250KPB - Front End - Single-Chip QAMLINK Advanced Set-Top Box

Broadcom - BCM3419KML - Tuner - CMOS, Low IF, Direct Conversion

Sanyo - LA7784FN - RF/IF Down Converter - Digital CATV, Consists of AGC Amplifier, Mixer

I/O & Interface

Broadcom - BCM3349KPB - Cable Modem - Single Chip Solution, QAMLink, DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS 2.0

Texas Instruments - TSB43DA42AGHC - Microcontroller - Single Chip Solution for IEEE1394a Link-Layer, w/ Integrated 2-Port PHY

NEC - uPD64084GC-8EA - Component Video Separator - Y/C Separation LSI, w/ 4Mbit On-Chip Memory & 10-bit ADC/DAC Converter

Memory

SDRAM ?Hynix - HY5DU121622CTP-D43 - DDR, 512Mb (32M x 16), 2.5V, 200MHz@CL3 (Qty: 4)

SDRAM - Hynix - HY5DU281622FTP-J - DDR, 128Mb (8M x 16), 2.5V, 133MHz@CL2 (Qty: 2)

Other Sub-Assemblies

Hard Drive

Seagate - ST3160215SCE - 160GB, 3.5', SATA, 7200RPM, 2MB Buffer

Power Supply (Internal)

Lite-On - PB-8600-3 - 60W, INPUT:100-120V~7A, 50-60Hz, OUTPUT:, +2.6V/4.4A MAX, +3.3V/3.95A MAX, +5V/2.05A MAX, +6V/1.5A MAX, +9V/0.175A MAX, +12V/1.1A MAX, +30V/0.03A MAX, -5V/0.075A MAX

CableCARD

Motorola M-Card MediaCipher Card