This writer is mixed-up. Million means Billion................
binghamtonpress.com
That box on your TV will soon do more
By ERIKA STUTZMAN
Assistant Business Editor
Not so far in the future the set-top box - the least-thought-about object in the home theater - will become as important as the VCR, the DVD player and the home computer combined.
The advent of digital television in the United States and abroad has brought about new technologies that make the set-top box the key piece of equipment in home entertainment.
And because of a recent ruling by the Federal Communications Commission, consumers beginning in 2000 will be able to pick their own set-top boxes at retailers, rather than relying on their cable service provider.
Which means that set-top box makers have a very good reason to enhance their product. And enhancing them, they are.
"A set-top-box device has the potential to merge several technologies together, providing a great synergy," said Jason Zien, the Internet industry guide at MiningCo.com
"For instance, it could include interactive information along with standard television programs; it could be used as a VCR-like appliance for downloading movies, music or other information."
IBM in Endicott announced Tuesday the PowerPC chip it developed for the set-top-box industry. The chip was developed by the company's Digital Video Product Group, and is a powerful microprocessor that allows everything from online shopping to recording shows onto a hard drive.
Silicon Valley's C-Cube launched their advanced set-top-box component in December - already attracting box manufacturers Pioneer and Pace.
Both products will allow activities through TV sets currently only available on computers, like e-mail, Net searching and online shopping.
But they also allow for things currently unavailable - like downloading an often-missed soap opera onto a hard drive - no build-up of tapes, no chance of accidentally taping over the season finale before viewing it.
The demand for this type of technology will be sky high. GartnerGroup Dataquest said the microchip component part of the industry alone will grow from $2 million to nearly $3 million in the next three years.
Zien said there is a growing demand for Internet access - and not necessarily through the traditional channels.
"I believe that the iMac and WebTV are so popular because they are much easier to use and less intimidating to use than a computer for many people," Zien said.
But, he added, the first generation of these components is not totally up to speed.
"I believe the only major drawbacks with set-top boxes for Internet access are the limited resolution of the television screen and the lack of current-generation software, he said. "Software on such boxes will always be behind what is available on computers until the Internet technologies stabilize or until set-top-boxes support software compatible with standard desktop computers."
Both IBM and C-Cube have stated that their microprocessors are powerful enough that users won't notice a difference between their TVs and computers.
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