Background and introduction

1. Challenges ahead in low power set-top box designPresentation at the ‘International Stakeholder Meeting’San Francisco - 29th June 2005Ken Dale – Consultant Engineer, Pace Micro Technology © 2005 Pace Micro Technology

2. Background and introduction • Pace Micro Technology profile • An international company supplying set-top box product in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand • Pace have been an Energy Star partner with several compliant products • Committed to supporting energy efficiency standards worldwide • Speaker profile • Principal job is to design the power architecture and power solutions for Pace products • Additional role is to promote energy efficiency in those products, particularly so they meet existing voluntary standards and any future legislation • Pace prefer voluntary standards set by agreement and I have been active in seeking to set realistic limits • So why should business be concerned with energy efficiency? • City investors and analysts expect leading companies to have a credible environmental policy • It seems better to co-operate proactively than be forced by unrealistic legislation

3. STB power consumption has been reduced, driven by voluntary targets • ‘Active Standby’ is specified by service providers if they require that the set-top box continues to receive signal • Power saving between full operation and active standby is limited • Operational power has come down so that the standby limit can be met • Greatest power saving is possible in more complex product Key is in the choice of power architecture, design of efficient power conversion and effective power management

4. Challenge is to satisfy all 3 key drivers when designing for lower power RELIABILITY Improved by lower average operating temperature PERFORMANCE Higher energy efficiency allows greater flexibility in product size and design COST Main cost is a ‘one-off’ in software design Cost of any higher efficiency components partially offset by savings due to lower input power

5. Pace HDTV PVR Examples of what helps to give an energy efficient design • Power management • Make use of power-down features provided in the main silicon • Where possible, use dynamic clock management to match processing speed to activity actually required • Disable circuit blocks when they are not required • In active-standby, for example, disable unused tuners, MPEG decoder, video/audio DACs, NTSC encoder, hard disk drive, modem, peripheral ports • Power conversion efficiency • Choose power architecture to give low distribution and regulation losses • Design with components which give best practical efficiency over all modes of operation

6. Newer digital TV technologies present energy efficiency challenges • High Definition video • Faster data rate from signal source • Increased processing to decode • Multi-room, multi-decode • Higher overall power and larger number of circuit blocks to manage • Need to know which programme streams are required at any particular time / location and power manage the hardware in the best way • The STB is less likely to be put into the lowest power standby state from a remote location • It may not be clear when the standby mode can be used • However, multi-room may result in fewer STBs in the home

7. Who benefits from better energy efficiency? • The Manufacturer can have a more reliable product • The Service Provider should have fewer product returns • The Shareholder has more confidence in the future of the business • The Customer has lower energy bills • The Government is helped with its energy policy • The Environment is better protected Thank you and any questions?