Evolution of the set-top box

10.2.1 Integration at (quasi) constant functionality

The block diagram of Figure 8.2 corresponds to the functional partitioning of the first generation (1996) of a European receiver/

decoder—IRD. At that time, each block corresponded to a major integrated circuit. Most of these circuits were realized in CMOS technology with a 0.5  feature. Integration has progressed rapidly, and for the first time (1997–1999), one could observe a grouping of functions in circuits with a 0.35  feature, at (almost) constant functionality, following the scheme below:

• Integration of external interfaces (RS232, IEEE1284, etc.) and demultiplexer/descrambler with the main processor (often a RISC), with a maximum clock frequency in the order of 50 MHz.

• Integration of the video encoder with the MPEG audio/video decoder, to which more sophisticated graphics capabilities have been added (8 bits per pixel or more, sometimes a 2D accelerator).

• Reduction of the required (S)DRAM chips from four times 256 K×16 to a one 1 M ×16 chip common to the MPEG decoder and to the graphics processor.

• Integration in a single channel decoder chip (first for satellite then for cable and later for terrestrial) of demodulation, error correction, and input ADCs.

• For the satellite tuner part, progressive adoption of the so-called

“zero IF” or ZIF technology (also known as direct conversion) with a view to finally integrating it on the main board.

Functional integration continues inexorably, thanks to the avail-ability of ever smaller geometries (0.25 then 0.18 m), which made possible, at the dawn of 2000, the integration of the processor (a 32-bit RISC with a clock frequency up to 100 MHz or more) and its peripherals with the source decoder, video encoder, and some-times the audio DAC. A 32-bit unified memory architecture (UMA) for

error

RS232, USB, 1394, etc.

IF

Figure 10.1 Block diagram of a typical set-top box for pay TV (from 2000 onward).

the processor, MPEG audio/video decoding, and graphics functions reduce for most common applications the memory requirements to a unique SDRAM chip of 8 Mbytes (2 M× 32). Figure 10.1 illus-trates the block diagram of such a receiver, commercially available in 2002.

10.2.2 Functional enhancements

Simultaneous to the integration of almost constant functionality, of which the main goal is cost reduction of the basic IRD, adjunc-tion of new funcadjunc-tions which increase its attractiveness is becoming common on mid- and high-end set-top boxes.

• A function missing from set-top boxes is the facility to record one program while watching another. This is all the more diffi-cult to understand since it has always been possible with analog VCRs, which all include their own tuner. This deficiency and the concomitant phenomenal capacity increase and price decrease

of hard disks (HDD) since the end of the 1990s have allowed set makers to integrate them in high-end set-top boxes. In order to be able to record a second program which is part of a differ-ent multiplex (transponder), a second front-end, or NIM (tuner+

channel decoder) is required, as well as a demultiplexer in order to record only the interesting part of the multiplex. This fuction-ality is generally referred to as watch and record (W&R).

• Another, more innovating, functionality allowed by the hard disk (which has the advantage, over a tape recorder, of random access capability and simultaneous read and write) is what is generally called time shift recording (TSR). This allows a pro-gram to be stopped, for example to answer an incoming phone call, and resumed at the place where it was interrupted. From the moment the user stops watching, the hard disk records the program; the user can then resume watching from where he left while the hard disk continues recording in real time. The user watches from this moment with a time shift which is equal to the duration of the interruption. Figure 10.2 shows the block dia-gram of a satellite IRD with a dual front-end which allows a pro-gram to be watched, if required in time shift mode, and another one to be recorded not necessarily belonging to the same mul-tiplex. This requires, of course, two front-ends, but also three

demux 2 MPEG-2

decoder NIM 2 TS 2

demux 1

µP

TS 1 hard disk

demux 3 TS combiner/

router and HDD interface

NIM 1

Figure 10.2 Principle block diagram of a satellite receiver with HDD and dual front-end.

demultiplexers as well as a device (which we have named TS combiner) able to reconstruct a partial transport stream, since the information will usually have to be recorded in the form of a scrambled transport stream for copyright reasons.

• Another important advantage of the hard disk compared to the VCR is that the original quality of picture and sound is fully maintained, since the recorded bitstream does not undergo any bit-rate reduction before being written to the disk.

• Interfaces of the set-top box to the external world evolve, even if the analog PAL/SECAM output to an external recorder has not yet been replaced as expected by a high speed IEEE1394 serial bus (see Appendix D), mainly due the very relative suc-cess of the digital D-VHS recorder. This situation is due both to the new possibilities brought by the hard disks discussed above and the opposition of the owners of rights (mainly of motion pic-tures) to allow digital recording of their works on a removable support. For the pure data interfaces, the current standards (RS232 serial and/or IEEE1284 parallel) tend to be progres-sively replaced by the USB interface, following (with some delay) the trend in the PC world.

• For decoders connected to a cable network, a high-speed return channel using the cable network instead of the telephone line becomes progressively standard, but it generally requires the upgrade of the network to make it bi-directional. The main stan-dards used are DOCSIS in the United States and DVB-DAVIC (digital audio visual council) or EURODOCSIS in Europe. The set-top box can thus become an attractive way of accessing the data superhighways, enabling real interactivity, high speed access to the Internet on the TV set, as well as the possibility of using the set-top box as a high speed modem by a PC connected, for example, by a USB or Ethernet link.