WITH INTERNET VIDEO AVAILABLE everywhere from game consoles to smart phones, hybrid web-to-TV set top boxes are poised to marry a new set of Internet services to TV sets.
By integrating Internet capability into cable, satellite, telcoTV (IPTV), and digital terrestrial set top boxes, these hybrid boxes will bring ‘apps’ and ‘widgets’ to TV programming, in addition to advanced advertising, says new research from In-Stat.
The report Web-to-TV Hybrid Set Top Boxes in Six Regions predicts that the value of hybrid set top boxes that are immediately put into use will reach US$ 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”, said In-Stat principal analyst, Gerry Kaufhold. “The set top box industry is scrambling to create designs that facilitate all these new features.”
Some of the other research findings include:
– Hybrid-capable set top boxes are shipping today, but only a small percentage are using the capabilities;
– Digital terrestrial boxes will be the hybrid-box growth leader, with a compound annual growth rate of 42% between 2010 and 2014;
– Each category of set top box and each geographic region is developing along unique trajectories. Western Europe will be the hot bed for development of hybrid services, and the leader for early hybrid set top box shipments; and
– 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.
