Items tagged with set-top
Try to imagine the amount of power four giant-sized nuclear reactors would put out if running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Quite a bit, right? Well, it just so happens that set-top boxes for cable and satellite TV put out the same amount. Not yours alone, mind you -- but collectively, the 224 million cable and satellite set-top boxes around the world consume the same amount of electricity. So says a report in the Los Angeles Times that calls attention to these unassuming power hogs. Outside of air conditioning, they're now the single biggest energy hog in many homes. Part of the reason is because they're running even when you're asleep. Image Source: Flickr (Andrew Currie) Cable boxes with...
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In a joint announcement with middleware set-top box software company NDS MediaHighway, SanDisk today announced that its P4 solid state drives (SSDs) will be jammed into a new range of affordable set-top boxes with DVR-like functionality. "For the first time, SSDs are now a cost-effective alternative to hard drives in the STB market," said Doron Myserdorf, senior director, SSDs, SanDisk. "The successful integration of SanDisk P4 SSD with NDS STB software enables new business models in the STB market, and takes Video on Demand content beyond teh DVR to offer a high degree of DVR-like functionality on a new range of boxes." A pair of SanDisk P4 SSDs. The ones used for set-top boxes will check in...
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While I use a Time Warner service, this may be a step in the right direction for content providers. Allowing users a broader line of options. TiVo Inc. said on Monday it hopes to start testing its first integrated digital video recorder service with Comcast Corp., the leading U.S. cable operator, this spring, two years after they reached an agreement to develop the service. The companies had signed a deal in March 2005 to offer Comcast subscribers the option to download TiVo's DVR software and interface to their cable set-top boxes. The two companies demonstrated the service for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on...
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Hot on the heels of Broadcom's announcement STB SoC yesterday, STMicroelectronics has announced the STi5107. Integration of the latest security specifications seem to be the biggest selling point of the new chip, although other performance enhancements have been added. STMicroelectronics, the world's largest supplier of silicon chips for set-top boxes (STB)*, has announced the STi5107, a new MPEG decoder for standard definition TV, within the Company's OMEGA family of STB solutions. Using the new device, manufacturers will be able to cut their total component cost and simplify board design and assembly, while offering enhanced security features. The STi5107 is designed to address the requirements...
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Broadcom is already sampling these chips to early adopters, and is providing a value line reference implementation as well a top-of-the-line reference platform. With all of the various new specifications and related standards being supported, this chip will certainly command the lion's share of set-top boxes for the near future. Based on NGNA developments to date, the BCM7118 provides support for all of today's cable network operating requirements, and also integrates features required to support the transition to CableLabs-based open industry standards (i.e. OpenCable(TM) Applications Platform (OCAP), DOCSIS 2.0 with DOCSIS Set-Top Gateway...
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