Samsung SMT-2110C Set-Top Box Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The Samsung SMT-2110C is a basic digital cable box that supports DOCSIS1.1, Cable card, SCART and Optical S/PDIF output.

Per Samsung, 'The Standard Digital Cable Set-top Box (STB) uses Euro DOCSIS Cable Modem for return path, enabling users to enjoy various Interactive Services.

Samsung SMT-2110C Set-Top Box Main Image

Cable service providers such as Telewest (Now Virgin Media)

Released

Unknown

Pricing and Availability

Pricing for this kind of product (at the consumer level) is meaningless as it is typically a completely subsidized part of a service package, and since it 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 3 M units of this STB will be produced during the product lifetime.

As a reminder, volume production assumptions are not meant to be necessarily 'market accurate' and our meant primarily to be 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).

Samsung SMT-2110C Set-Top Box - Main PCB Top

Function / Performance

No performance testing was performed.

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.

Samsung SMT-2110C Set-Top Box Cost Analysis

Manufacturing Notes

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on markings, the unit was made in Korea. 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 Samsung SMT-2110C has an approximate total component count of 1300 of which 54 are mechanical components (when breaking out all of the subcomponents of the tuner module and power supplies). The components count is inline with some other lower-end STB that we analyzed. Typically, standard basic set-top-box does not surprise us with either a very low or high component count due to its form factor and mostly standardized chipset solution.

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 overall design is pretty straight forward with the core Conexant CX24153 MPEG decoder and other I/O functions ICs such as the Conexant CX24943 cable modem IC and the Infineon Ethernet transceiver. All of the front end functions take place in the RF modulator and two tuner modules which are both soldered on board.

Major Components:

Main PCB

Audio/Video Processing

Conexant - CX24153-25MZ - Set Top Box Decoder - Single Chip, MPEG2, 200MHz ARM920 32 Bit CPU

I/O & Interface

Conexant - CX24943 - Cable Modem IC - Single-Chip, 225MHz System Processor, Integrated IEEE802.3 MAC, MII, USB1.1 Transceiver, and Host Interface

Infineon - ADM7001 - Ethernet Transceiver - Single-Chip, 10/100Mbps, PHY, 1-Port

ST Microelectronics - STV6412ADT - Switch - Audio/Video Switch Matrix

Memory

Samsung Semiconductor - K4S281632F-TC60 - SDRAM - 128Mb, 8Mx16, 3.3V, 166MHz

Samsung Semiconductor - K4S641632H-TC60 - SDRAM - 64Mb, 4Mx16, 3.3V, 166MHz

Other Sub-Assemblies

Power Supply (Internal)

Tuner Module / RF Modulator:

Sharp - Model number unknown

Samsung Semiconductor - DTMPD15MV204B

Samsung Semiconductor - RMUP74055AK - RF modulator

Samsung SMT-2110C Set-Top Box - Enclosure Disassembly