Topics of hot debate among the cable operators, who are deciding whatīalance of features users are most likely to use against the cost of What the set-tops will do and what they will look like are still
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Internet set-top device company WebTV, and partnered with numerous consumer electronics companies such as Sony, Sega, and Thomson Electronics-which owns the RCA brand name-to ensure that its operating system software has a toehold in the emerging information appliance market. Microsoft has invested in the last two years about $1 billion
"They are the gateway to the rest of the world and other potential forms of revenue for them." Said Steve Guggenheimer, product manager for Microsoft's digital "The set-top box is an interesting product to ," Already cable companies are seeing that set-top boxes are a hotly contested battleground for the deployment of powerful software and chips once formerly reserved for personal computers. The trend is most evident in plans by cable companies to offer advanced digital services such as email, telephony, Web access, digital People are apparently willing to expand their surfing from TV channels to the Web, but they don't want to move from the living-room couch to the den to do it. Only a few years ago, many computer companies were hoping to expand their businesses by incorporating TV features within their devices, not the other way around.Īs many had predicted, however, the mass consumer market is far moreĪware of television-based technologies than PCs and other Internet devices, according to research by International Data Corporation. Much of this blurring is taking place within a device oriented toward television, not the personal computer.
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"There are a number of PC manufacturers looking towards low-end PCs that are TV-centric, but we see a blurring of those distinctions." Scientist and technical director for Scientific-Atlanta, which manufactures many of the cable set-top boxes in use today. "As we move forward, we're going to see less and lessĭistinction between a set-top box and a PC," noted Bill Wal, chief
The future of a world where television and the Internet become fully integrated rests upon the once-humble, no-frills cable TV set-top box.įormerly relegated to just switching channels, it will be endowed with the potential to control an entire network of devices in the home ranging from PCs to VCRs, as well as serve as a communications device for phone and videoconferencing service.