<< Zach - Re: "Does Intel have any interest in going after the set top box market? "
First, i don't believe there is such a thing as the "set top box" market.>>
Well, I have a "set top box" in my video rack. Have had it since 1996. It's a Thompsen ("RCA") DirecTV box. Some transistors in it, for MPEG II decoding and the like, but this is an established market.
Other folks have Tivo (TiVO, whatever) boxes. I hear these have MIPS processors (small ones).
Ho hum. To get to Zach's point, Intel is in the business of selling transistors "by the bucket." Consumer-grade boxes that use very established technologies are the domain of the chip companies that concentrate on consumer electronics.
Not any particular need for Pentium IIIs or 4s in satellite dish boxes.
If by chance Zach was talking about the John Malone vision, circa 1994, of "500 channels," we are far away from this. The "last mile" situation we talk about so often hits in spades for dreams of "500 channels." Without fiber to the home, or about five times as many satellites as there are parking spaces for in the Clarke Belt, just no way to get 500 channels. And, by the way, even these 500 channels won't require the kind of numbers of transistors that Intel's bucketloads are best for. No reason my existing set top box, designed presumably in the early 90s, can't cope with the load. It's got several hundred empty channel spaces, all the infrastructure for pay-per-view, etc. Why are more transistors needed? What would Intel bring to the party?
--Tim May |
