Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd, Intel KK and Huashu Digital TV Co Ltd, a Chinese cable TV operator, have announced their joint development of a "Next Generation Hybrid STB (set top box)," which can be used for both DVB (digital video broadcasting) and IPTV services.
The STB features Intel Corp's "Intel CE 2110 Media Processor" SoC for digital consumer products. It can decode HDTV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and H.264 format signals. The STB also incorporates a 3D and 2D graphic accelerator, plug-in software "Flash Player," JVM (Java Virtual Machine) and a Web browser.
Through this Next Generation Hybrid STB, Huashu Digital TV is aiming to offer high value added services and consequently increase ARPU (average revenue per user).
According to the companies, TV operators have generally distributed their low-end STBs to subscribers for free to digitalize their TV broadcasts in China. However, this method makes it difficult for subscribers to receive high value added services and for operators to earn sufficient profits. The companies developed the Next Generation Hybrid STB to overcome these problems, they explained.
OKI and the other companies said the number of digital TV subscribers in China was 23.64 million households, growth of 81.3% year-on-year, as of the end of November 2007. The companies forecast the STB market will continue to grow with both HDTV and IPTV services further penetrating and cable TV being digitalized toward the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2008 and the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.
The companies showcased the Next Generation Hybrid STB at the "16th Annual China Content Broadcasting Network Exhibition (CCBN2008)" held in Beijing from March 21 to 23, 2008.
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