Comment by amarant
15 days ago
I also got it right, but for the entirely wrong reasons!
I assumed the "suspicious" cable was a spy cable, and then guessed that the bigger integrated circuit was probably responsible for doing secret spy stuff, while the smaller circuit up top was all that was needed for ordinary cable work. Turns out the cables do basically the same thing (no fancy spying!), and one is just cheaper.
Similar reasoning, don't know if it's "wrong" reasoning.
The large chip looks like it's purposely placed to intercept every single incoming signal, and then route them through afterward. Just because they're "experts" does not mean they notice issues that a "naive" observer might have noticed. Get lost in the trees.
It looks like a big chip for doing "secret spy stuff".