Skip to main content

Hybrid STBs follow Digital Video Player Adoption

Digital video players, blu-ray disc players, game consoles, and now television sets are connecting to the Internet. Moreover, everything online is becoming accessible on smartphones and other connected mobile devices.

Internet video streaming is the new service that's in high demand. However, most TVs are not enabled to display these offerings. The hybrid Web-to-TV set top box (STB) will deliver over-the-top services to these TV sets -- by integrating Internet access capability into cable, satellite, telcoTV (IPTV), and digital terrestrial STBs.

Work is underway to create hybrid services that bring apps and widgets to TV programming, along with advanced advertising, according to the latest market study by In-Stat.

The market value of Hybrid STBs will reach $1.3 billion worldwide by 2014.

"TV programs have come to the Internet. Now, the Internet is coming back to TV, and savvy software engineers and smart TV producers are finding ways to create new hybrid services that bring it all together," says Gerry Kaufhold, Principal Analyst for In-Stat.

Most set top box manufacturers are scrambling to create designs that facilitate all these new features. The next 12 months will be important, since mainstream consumer adoption trends will likely surface that demonstrate where the greatest opportunity exists. Purpose-built low-cost digital video players have gained the market lead with early-adopters.

In-Stat's latest market research findings include:

- Hybrid-capable STBs are shipping today, but only a small percentage are using the capabilities.

- Digital terrestrial boxes will be the hybrid-box growth leader, with a CAGR of 42 percent between 2010 and 2014.

- Western Europe will be the hot bed for development of hybrid services, and the leader for early hybrid STB shipments.

- Intel’s x86 Instruction Set promises to be a key enabler, as Adobe FLASH, Windows Media, Microsoft Silverlight, DiVX, and VP8 appear first on an x86 Instruction Set.

- To date, each category of set top box and each geographic region is developing along unique trajectories.

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul

How Cloud Fuels Digital Business Transformation

Across the globe, many CEOs invested in initiatives to expand their digital offerings. User experience enhancements that are enabled by business technology were a priority in many industries. Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 21.7 percent to a total of $597.3 billion in 2023 -- that's up from $491 billion in 2022, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Cloud computing is driving the next phase of digital transformation, as organizations pursue disruption through technologies like generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Web3, and enterprise Metaverse. Public Cloud Computing Market Development "Hyperscale cloud providers are driving the cloud agenda," said Sid Nag, vice president at Gartner . Organizations view cloud computing as a highly strategic platform for digital transformation initiatives, which requires providers to offer new capabilities as the competition for digital business escalates. "For example, generativ

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year