coverstory_cover story 12/07/2013 17:23 Page 3
starting to invest in the area of Connected TV, and more and more STBs are equipped with 'Smart' features such as app stores and VoD stores. There is not a fear that STBs are at risk, but as Smart TV is adopted by consumers they will need to offer more sophisticated features and a hyper-connected experience in order to maintain a place in the modern home. Technicolor: STBs have always been, and will remain for the foreseeable future a technology gap-gap-filler. STBs bring support for new codecs (such as HEVC 2K / 4K in the short term), for new modulations schemes, for higher computing and graphics capabilities, etc. For this reason, STBs will always be needed. STBs are also the custom sales tool for premium content distributors/resellers. Visual Unity: The STB will be only one of many connected devices in the home, enabling OTT content to subscribers. The lack of standardisation in STB development has prevented this device from being a dominant consumer appliance in the entertainment
"We expect that Smart TVs will replace set-top boxes as the centre of the connected consumer’s household in some segments of the market." Irdeto
ecosystem. As STBs are often proprietary to specific service providers, this results in a closed and proprietary system. Euromedia: What role will STBs and Smart TVs play in a cloud-based future? Accedo: In a pure cloud-based future, all content will be delivered over the Internet (OTT). In such a scenario, the STB is just another OTT client device, and it needs to fight with Smart TVs, game consoles and mobile devices for consumer spend and attention. STBs wil