If the entertainment world goes digital, processing power and speed in general will be needed as much as it is when you wish your PC would search your HD faster.
Yes, and that is why Intel is not in the running:
"It's most likely that those boxes won't have 'Intel Inside' written on them," said Will Strauss, an analyst at Forward Concepts, a semiconductor research firm in Tempe, Ariz.
Strauss said Intel's line of microprocessors is neither powerful nor inexpensive enough to qualify for consideration as the main source of power and intelligence for the new set-top devices, which are expected to run applications that combine Internet content and television programming, as well as perform traditional tasks, such as decoding massive amounts of digital audio and video.
Even Intel's family of Pentium II chips, Strauss said, would have to be fortified with additional processing power to handle video and audio decoding chores. In addition, Strauss estimated that in order for the box to remain in the $250 to $300 price range, the microprocessor can cost set-top makers no more than $25.
Source: zdnet.com
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