Futuristic Image of Consumer Electronic Equipment in the Age of Digitalization: Present Set Top Boxes and Future Outlook

摘要

Recently, the set top box (STB) has frequently been the topic of discussion. This is probably because the general image of futuristic information processing terminal equipment overlaps with that of the STB. More recently, the term "multimedia" has been replaced rapidly by the term "Internet," and all dialogue is advanced with "Internet Protocol (IP)" as the key word. However, the characteristics of Internet, or the network of best effort type, tends to suffer uncertainty in connection reliability (the long time required and the need for confirmation of linkage), so there may be a sense of opacity in the future image of IP type STBs. Some consider the trend shown is, "the quality improvement of TV images is the very essence of next-generation entertainment," and that there is a need for STBs to conform to this need.