Request for Information Questions in the Presentation Slide “Issue Boxes”

Number Category Request

1. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on how service provider software impacts Set‐top Box energy

consumption.

2. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on how service provider software impacts idle or sleep

behavior.

3. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on how STB behavior will differ when on a live network as

opposed to a closed network.

4. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on how STB energy consumption will be affected by geographic

location, time of day, and subscription package selected.

5. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on the modification service providers make to content

providers’ signals. Does a specific channel use similar frame rates, encoding, and bit

rates across different service providers or locations?

6. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on the variance in energy based on the video content. Would

sports content (more dynamic) have significant differences in energy consumption

compared to news content (more static)?

7. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on the feasibility of determining frame rate, bit rate, and video

format being received by the STB.

8. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on the parameters of the video source that impact the energy

consumption STBs.

9. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on handling DVR testing and requests data pertaining to typical

usage of each operation (e.g., amount of time spent and speed used for each

operation).

10. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on including LNB energy consumption in measurements. How

much power does the LNB consume compared to the STB?

11. Test Procedure   DOE seeks comment on what factors impact LNB energy consumption and whether

they can be controlled in a lab setting. Does power vary significantly based on the

received signal or noise? What other factors affect LNB energy consumption?

12. Test Procedure DOE seeks comment on excluding LNB power from measurements. Is it possible to

test the STB with the LNB disabled or disconnected? Are there any known methods

for accurately measuring the LNB power to exclude it from the STB energy

consumption? Can all satellite STBs use an independently powered LNB as a means

to separate LNB power from the STB?

13. Product Classes DOE welcomes feedback on what product classes should be considered, how many

classes to consider, and potential methods to combine or reduce the number of

product classes.

14. Product Classes DOE welcomes feedback and the impact on baseline energy consumption of

potential product classes

15. Product Classes DOE welcomes feedback on the market share of potential product classes.

16. Product Classes Should ENERGY STAR’s definitions of base functionalities and additional features be

used as a starting point for determining DOE product classes?

17. Design Options DOE welcomes comments on how the above four screening criteria (Technological

Feasibility, Practicability to Manufacture, Install, and Service, Adverse Impacts on

product or equipment utility or availability to consumers, Impact on Health or

Safety) might apply to the technology options discussed in the preliminary market

and technology assessment.  

18. Design Options Comments, data, and input into technological, economic, and competitive impacts

of using lower power light sleep and deep sleep modes for STBs. DOE also seeks

feedback on any other issues related to lower power sleep modes.  DOE is

particularly interested in technological features that could significantly reduce

energy consumption while providing for adequate communication with services

providers and minimizing wake‐up times when consumers power on their devices.   

19. Design Options DOE is also interested in other examples and data of energy‐reducing technologies,
configurations, or product designs, other than sleep modes, that could help improve

the efficiency of STBs (e.g. spinning down hard disks, multi‐room deployments, etc.)

20. Design Options What design limitations are imposed on STBs by the cable, satellite, terrestrial, or

internet infrastructure? How might this affect STB behavior/usage profiles? How

might this affect STB energy consumption?

21. Engineering Analysis DOE welcomes comment on whether there are proprietary designs it should

consider for any of the set‐top box product classes under consideration in this

rulemaking and, if so, how DOE should acquire the cost data necessary for

evaluating these designs.

22. Engineering Analysis DOE welcomes comment on markup approaches for developing estimates of

manufacturer selling prices.

23. Engineering Analysis DOE welcomes comment on the approach to determining the relationship between

manufacturer selling price and set‐top box efficiency.

24. Engineering Analysis DOE welcomes interested parties to comment on methods and approaches

employed to improve the efficiency of the set‐top boxes, including the max‐tech

model. Detailed information on set‐top box performance and the incremental

manufacturing costs (e.g., material costs, labor costs, overhead costs (excluding

depreciation), building conversion capital expenditures, tooling/equipment

conversion capital expenditures associated with more efficient designs, research

and development (R&D) expenses, and marketing expenses) would be useful.

25. Engineering Analysis DOE welcomes comment from interested parties on the best methodology for

scaling from the representative product classes to the remaining product classes,

including the proposed methodology of assigning specific power requirements for

additional features, similar to ENERGY STAR allowances.

26. Engineering Analysis DOE welcomes comment on whether there are outside regulatory changes that DOE

should consider in its engineering analysis of set‐top boxes.

27. Engineering Analysis DOE seeks data on the energy use and configurations of current STBs in the market.

28. Engineering Analysis DOE would like to gain access to a subscription or head‐end equipment similar to

that of the consumer’s access in order to test and perform physical teardowns of

STBs.   

29. Engineering Analysis DOE seeks additional data on STB markets and technologies, including updated

energy use data on STBs by potential product class.  This data includes numbers of

installed devices, unit energy consumption, efficiency ranges, and usage profiles

30. Energy Use Analysis DOE seeks to identify and obtain detailed data on the typical usage profiles for set‐

top boxes considered in this rulemaking. If the range of energy use determined for

each product class is large enough, DOE will conduct a sensitivity analysis to

determine how high and low estimates of energy use might impact the economic

feasibility of any potential energy conservation standards. DOE welcomes

recommendations on sources of data that would provide usage profiles for each of

the product classes covered under this rulemaking.  

31. Energy Use Analysis DOE welcomes comments on how the usage profiles are different (or similar) for

each of the product classes covered under this rulemaking.  

32. Energy Use Analysis DOE welcomes comment on other end‐use issues that could impact the energy use

analysis

33. Mark‐Up Determination DOE welcomes feedback and data on how to properly address equipment price

markups for set‐top boxes. Specifically, DOE welcomes comments on how to apply

the mark‐up analysis to set‐up boxes given that set‐top boxes are often leased, as

opposed to sold, to consumers. How much of service fees charged to customers

should be allocated to the lease of set‐top boxes?  

34. Mark‐Up Determination What changes to network infrastructure would be necessary for STB efficiency

design options?  What would be the cost of these changes?  Would service providers

pass these costs onto consumers in the form of increased fees?
Additional Supplemental Questions from the RFI

Number Category Request

43. Test Procedure Other Potential Test Set‐ups (besides subscription service setup and closed

network set‐up) that should be considered

44. Product Classes How does adding multiple additional features affect the energy consumption of

product classes? Does the energy consumption of each additional feature increase

the total energy consumption by a given amount regardless of what other features

are present; or do combinations of features have different impacts on energy

consumption?  

45. Product Classes Are there any features that impact some potential product classes differently than

others?  For example, would DVR functionality tend to increase the energy

consumption of satellite and cable STBs similarly?

46. Product Classes Should Cable DTAs have its own product class?  DOE believes this is used for older

analog televisions (TVs) which are becoming less common as consumers switch to

digital TVs. By the time a standard is applicable, this technology may not be

relevant, so establishing a standard might have minimum or no impact on national

energy consumption.

47. Product Classes Should streaming STBs (e.g. streaming video from an internet based service) be

distinguished from service provider IPTV STBs? What, if any, differences are there

between those types of STBs? Is the term “video signals” sufficient for including

streaming STBs in potential IPTV product classes? If a separate product category is

established for steaming STBs, what should its definition be and how, if at all,

should the definition for service provider IPTV STBs be amended to exclude

streaming STBs?

35. Life Cycle Cost Analysis DOE welcomes input on the proposed methodology for estimating current and

future electricity prices.

36. Life Cycle Cost Analysis DOE welcomes input on the proposed approaches for estimating discount rates for

consumers of set‐top boxes covered under this rulemaking.

37. Shipments Analysis DOE welcomes comment and data on appropriate set‐top lifetimes. DOE also

welcomes comment on how returns and refurbishments impact total set‐top

lifetimes.

38. Shipments Analysis DOE welcomes recommendations on data sources for shipments of STBs by different

product classes and long‐term trends in STB shipments.

39. Shipments Analysis DOE welcomes comment on the accounting methodology described above for each

product class covered in this rulemaking. DOE especially invites comments regarding

the stock of STBs in use and STB lifetimes for each product class.

40. Shipments Analysis DOE welcomes comment on how any standard for STBs might impact shipments of

these STBs, as well as interactions between various STB product classes. DOE also

invites information about market‐pull programs that promote the adoption of more‐

efficient STBs.

41. National Impacts Analysis DOE welcomes comment on the NES spreadsheet models it proposes to use for

estimating national impacts of energy conservation standards for STBs.

42. Life‐cycle Subgroup,

Manufacturer Impact,

Utility Impact,

Employment Impact,

Emissions, and

Regulatory Impact

Analyses.

DOE welcomes feedback and comments on any aspects of the Life‐Cycle Subgroup

Analysis, Manufacturer Impact Analysis, Utility Impact Analysis, Employment Impact

Analysis, Emissions Analysis and Monetization, and/or Regulatory Impact Analysis.
48. Product Classes Should there be any additional features defined due to significant differences in

functionalities (i.e. performance related features).  

49. Product Classes Is the Cable STB definition sufficient to include stand‐alone DVRs (which include a

CableCARD slot to interface with existing service provider) generally purchased

through retail?  Should a separate product class exist for stand‐alone DVRs?

50. Product Classes Should the Cable STB definition include CableCARD and DOCSIS functionality?  

Does CableCARD functional consume energy when a CableCARD is installed, but

not in use, or does it also have to be in use?

51. Product Classes Should the Advanced Video Processing feature encompass both encoding and

decoding of video content?  Would encoding or transcoding require more

hardware and energy consumption compared to decoding?  Does the presence of

Advanced Video Processing significantly affect power consumption when viewing

MPEG‐2 or analog video?

52. Product Classes Can Advanced Video Processing and High Definition be combined into a single

functionality?

53. Product Classes Is it sufficient to define HD as any resolution greater than 720p?  Should there be a

separate definition for even higher video resolution?

54. Product Classes Are there STBs that currently implement removable media support?  Does the

presence of this feature increase the energy consumption when not in use (e.g.

when the STB is accessing live TV content)? Should DOE create separate product

classes for STBs with removable media players, or should this functionality be

excluded from test procedures and efficiency standards?

55. Product Classes Should DOE consider any other additional features that currently exist or are in

development that would significantly affect consumer behavior and/or STB energy

consumption (e.g., 3D video processing, ultra high definition)?

56. Design Options How do STB requirements differ from Computers, some of which have low‐power

idle modes and sleep modes with quick boot times?

57. Design Options How should tuner types be categorized?  Are there significant energy differences

between analog and digital tuners?

58. Design Options Does the capability for multi‐room increase the energy consumption of the STB

when only one output is connected?

59. Design Options Does the capability for multi‐stream increase the energy consumption of the STB

when only one stream is being accessed?  Is energy consumption correlated to the

number of streams?  

60. Design Options Market data on how prevalent multiple STBs are in current homes.  For example,

how many homes have 2 STBs?  How many homes have 3 STBs, etc.?

61. Design Options How much more power does a multi‐room STB use compared to a thin‐client

device?

62. Design Options How much more power does a multi‐room STB use compared to a STB without

multi‐room capability?

63. Design Options Are generic thin‐client STBs capable of connecting to any multi‐room STB, or will

only specific models of thin‐clients work with a given multi‐room STB?

64. Energy Use Analysis Should DOE adopt the ENERGY STAR usage profile or should an alternative

methodology be used when considering the metric for potential energy

conservation standards, such as wattage requirements for each mode?   

65. Shipments Analysis Projected energy data includes historical and projected annual shipments of STBs,

projected unit energy consumption for future models of STBs, and projected usage

profiles based on new studies of consumer behavior

66. Shipments Analysis DOE also welcomes comment on the distribution chain for set‐top boxes.