Common among the needs of STB OEMs & ODMs are those for integrated hardware/software solutions. Virtually all want proven reference designs to minimize hardware design & engineering, and to enable rapid time-to-market (TTM). Many STB suppliers also need proven turn-key software platforms to accommodate broadly varied market requirements.

China Cable STB Market
As a prime example, the China Cable STB market is exploding. Why? There were approximately 140 Million analog cable subscribers as of 2005. However, Chinese Government policy mandates transition to digital cable within the next 5 years.

According to figures from the Chinese government agency SARFT, there were approximately 3 Million digital cable (DVB-C) subscribers in 2005, which grew to over 11.5 Million subscribers in 2006. Market expectations are that the China digital cable set-top box market will grow to an estimated 15-20 Million units this year & to nearly 30 Million units in 2008, a ten-fold explosion from 2005 to 2008, well on the way to being a 140+ Million unit STB opportunity within the next 5 years.

The China market has several nuances that present design challenges for OEMs & ODMs designing STBs. First, unlike other geographies where the cable operator market is highly concentrated, there are over 100 cable operators addressing the China market. Second, beyond the requirements for DVB-C, there's a need for data browser capability and conditional access requirements also vary significantly between service providers.

Presently, however, there is no interactive software standard. As a result, requirements vary among the multitude of cable operators, which increases the challenges for set-top box designers and chip vendors.

What's more, beyond the data browser requirements, STB vendors serving the China market also require multiple conditional access (CA) solutions " involving both domestic and foreign vendors. While each of these conditional access vendors involves investment in software porting and certification, many of the vendors also have unique security requirements which impact chip and set-top box designs.

China STB Supplier Needs
China STB Supplier Needs
Addressing the China STB market, at present, are three types of suppliers. The first group consists of Digital Video Network (DVN), which like Scientific Atlanta and Motorola provides end-to-end solutions— software (middleware, data browser, and conditional access), head-ends. Second, there's a small group of large STB vendors that have made sizeable investments in hardware engineering and that pursue most major STB opportunities across China.

However, an increasing percentage of the STB marketplace is being addressed by a third and growing group of regional and smaller STB vendors. As an example, some cable operators prefer to purchase their hardware from local STB vendors. But since these suppliers can't afford to match the engineering investment made by the first two larger groups, they need turn-key solutions to quickly develop STBs of comparable performance.

After a significant investment in engineering, Zoran is currently well-represented in the China cable set-top box market. Zoran has been shipping large volumes of its Digital TV processors to both DVN and smaller STB vendors.

Zoran recently announced that its SupraTV' Digital TV processor powers new families of China cable set-top boxes from Xoceco whose STBs are now shipping in Xiamen Cable (see photo below).

As an example of the software Zoran provides its China Cable customers, Xoceco's Zoran-based cable set-top boxes feature: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) -- cable and MPEG2-compliant audio and video decoding; a seven-day Electronic Programming Guide (EPG), multi-language On Screen Display (OSD), cable channel autoscan, DVB-subtitles, OSD Teletext decoding, software updates via over-air-download and serial port. They also support composite + s-video outputs, stereo audio and audio output via S/PDIF, infra-red remote, RF input and loop-through. The set-top box also includes a number of combinations of data broadcast and conditional access software Xoceco's customers require..

Zoran expects most of its China cable set-top box customers will adopt the SupraTV' 161 Processor, which meets the performance needs of the China cable market both in terms of Megahertz and MIPs. Perhaps, more importantly, it meets system cost requirements, as well. One way it does this is by integrating SmartCard power control, a feature previously requiring a separate chip. The SupraTV' 161 Processor provides ample performance for data browsing, for example. It has a flexible interface, called Guest Bus, for integrating 10/100 Ethernet system-level capability that enables cost-effective interactive services. Options for enhanced security and DVR applications are also available

On the software side, Zoran's SupraTV' 161 solution comes with proven middleware and other software it has ported to enable cable set-top boxes, such as those from Xoceco, to support the most popular conditional access and data browser software.

European STB Designer Considerations
European STB Designer Considerations
In the European market, STB designers also have requirements for proven reference designs and integrated, proven turn-key software platforms. However, market nuances within the Continent and in the United Kingdom generate different needs, as well.

European subscribers face a cessation of analog terrestrial services. These switch-offs will occur at different times on a country-by-country basis (e.g., Germany in 2010, France in 2011, and the United Kingdom in 2012). On those respective dates, TVs will go dark, unless STB vendors provide all-digital solutions in a timely fashion. STB vendors must also take into consideration the reality that, while DVB-T is the baseline requirement, specific platform requirements (e.g., Terrestrial frequency, software, over-air-download, payTV) vary by country. As example, unique software requirements exist to satisfy different interactive standards in the United Kingdom (MHEG-5), and Italy (MHP) and some DVB-T markets are pay terrestrial.

In total, the European STB opportunity generated by the turn-off of analog terrestrial services and the transition to DVB-T by approximately 500 Million people represents a large opportunity in the next few years.

Single European-Wide Platform
What European STB vendors want is a European-wide platform, that is, a single hardware design coupled with a software architecture that addresses all major European market segments. Ideally, each STB OEM would like to use the same product line-up of models throughout all of Europe, but apply diverse software rules on a country-by-country basis. Rather than developing different models to serve different geographic markets, this single platform approach would enable them to achieve efficiencies in design, cost, inventory and time-to-market. In addition, a strong mid-range set-top box market exists in Europe which includes branded products, those for DVR applications, and with High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) outputs, for example. SupraTV' 160 Family Internal Block Diagram follows which illustrates how its feature sets serves mid-range set-top boxes.

Zoran addresses these divergent needs of designers for the European STB market with its pin-compatible SupraTV' 160 and 162 Digital TV processors that are targeted at Continental Europe STB and U.K. STB markets, respectively. Whereas the SupraTV' 160 supports European STBs, the SupraTV'162 is aimed at U.K. Terrestrial STBs. It includes MHEG-5 software and licenses, and has the performance for interactive applications and interfaces for single and dual DVRs. Zoran also offers SupraTV' 160 family variants for Continental Europe DVR (SupraTV' 161) and U.K. DVR (SupraTV' 163) which enable support for single and dual-tuner DVRs such as those complying with the U.K. Freeview Playback specification (SupraTV' 163).

Zoran also provides European STB designers with proven DVB-T middleware and full turn-key software (OS, drivers, middleware and applications software), as well as a user interface tool that enables the STB OEMs to achieve a common look-and-feel across their product line-up. An optional MHEG-5 software module for the SupraTV' 162 processor similarly enables designers of STBs for the U.K. market to develop models with the same look-and-feel.

Suppliers presently shipping STBs to the European market, based on Zoran's SupraTV' 160 family of Digital TV processors, include: Alba, Grundig, Metronic, Siemens, Thomson, et al. (see below). However, DVB-T STBs will also be sold beyond the European Union in a number of emerging markets: the Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia); Africa (South Africa); Eastern Europe (the Ukraine, Russia and others), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand).

Designing for the U.S. DTV Transition
Designing for the U.S. Transition to All-Digital Broadcasts
On the domestic front, the transition to all-digital television broadcast is slated to occur in February 2009 at which time analog terrestrial (NTSC) broadcasts stop, and the only terrestrial broadcasts will be digital (ATSC). Digital cable or satellite subscribers and consumers with digital TVs (including digital tuners), will not need new STBs to accommodate the cut-over to all-digital broadcasts.

However, an estimated 30-40 Million viewers presently don't subscribe to digital satellite or cable services, or own a digital TV. Additionally, millions of existing subscribers to digital cable and satellite services have multiple TVs in their homes that are not equipped to receive all-digital broadcasts.

These viewers are likely to be very unhappy when they wake-up on the 2009 cut-over date and find their existing analog TVs are dark or filled with static. This is likely to cause a sudden, brief, surge in STB purchases, a "hole" that OEMs and ODMs must be prepared to fill quickly, or miss out on the opportunity.

To facilitate this problem, the U.S. Government has proposed a response. It calls for the NTIA to set aside $990 Million - $1.4 Billion to fund purchases of ATSC DTA (digital-to-analog) converter boxes using coupons worth $40 at retail. The NTIA's DTA specification is explicit about what features are required, not permitted, and optional, in these converter boxes.

However, from a design perspective, STB OEMs will require a cost-optimized solution, that enables them to achieve relatively-fast TTM so as to supply traditional retail brands and house brands with enough products during this short window of opportunity. As for ODMs, they are expected to also require proven design solutions, such as hardware reference designs and turn-key software, so they can fulfill their role in the STB supply-chain.

To ease this design burden for STB OEMs and ODMs addressing this U.S. market requirement, Zoran has developed the SupraHD' 740 family of highly integrated high-definition Digital TV processors. These are single-chip HDTV solutions intended to meet the requirements for ATSC-to-NTSC Converter Boxes.

Among the STB brands that have come to market using the SupraHD' solution is RCA.

The SupraHD' 740 Processor is optimized for use in ATSC Converter Boxes and integrates an 8VSB (vestigial sideband) demodulator, an MPEG-2 HD decoder, 32-bit MIPS CPU, graphics engine and video scaler. Cost savings is also achieved with the integration of Channel 3 / 4 RF modulator, stereo audio DACs, and a microcontroller that wakes the system from its sleep mode. Designed to use the minimum external components, the SupraHD' 740 requires only 1 MB of Flash, ATSC tuner, DRAM, and a few passive components to build a complete ATSC converter box as shown below.

Software Compatibility
Software Compatibility
The SupraHD' 740 Processor software is API-compatible with the industry proven Zoran SupraHD' 640 processor and Cascade 2 demodulator products allowing current Zoran customers to leverage their existing software development to complete their designs faster and move to production sooner.

To ease the design burden for ODMs and OEMs, Zoran has also developed the SupraHD' 740 ATSC Converter Box design. This is a complete hardware and software solution for building a low-cost ATSC Converter Box. The reference design consists of a set-top box hardware design and application with a complete middleware software stack, including closed-caption support. The hardware module accepts all the ATSC formats (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i) and outputs 480i to a NTSC TV. The combination of hardware and software in this design enables fast development time.

Thus, utilizing a variety of SupraTV' and SupraHD' hardware and software solutions, OEMs and ODMs can overcome numerous and diverse design challenges that loom as they prepare to address very time-sensitive market opportunities created by the transition to all-digital broadcasting in major world markets.

About the author
Eric Schiff is the Director of Standard Definition Product Marketing in the Home Entertainment Business Unit for the Zoran Corporation. He can be reached at leboss@bluechipllc.com