STB upgrade focuses on extending service life

Under the competitive pressure of triple play, digital bidirectional transformation of wired networks must be accelerated. However, the reality is that operators in a large number of non-pilot cities are shy and cannot use enough funds to promote the digital translation of cable television. In addition, terminal upgrades brought about by service upgrades will also put pressure on operators to face secondary purchases. Innovating the terminal design and reducing the procurement costs of operators has become a realistic requirement for the development of the broadcast and television industry under the trend of triple play.

Large secondary translation pressure

In the early phase of digitized translation, due to the lack of suitable development services, from the perspective of cost savings, most of the set-top boxes that operators distribute to users are standard-type set-top boxes. However, with the advancement of triple play, various types of high-definition services and applications will continue to emerge, and the service carrying capacity of set-top boxes must be greatly improved. If the set-top boxes with stronger service carrying capacity are re-purchased, the terminals purchased by the operators will be abandoned. This will not only cause waste of resources, but will also allow operators to bear greater financial pressure.

From standard-definition to high-definition, from the transmission of basic television programs to the deployment of triple-play converged new services, operators will always face the financial pressure brought about by the upgrading of terminals. “The set-top boxes originally dispatched by the operators, although the technical life is not yet over, but due to the end of its business life, it is facing the fate of being eliminated in advance. For operators, this means that the assets have shrunk dramatically.” Product director Wang Wei told reporters of China Electronics News.

Extend the business life of set-top boxes

To avoid the waste of resources and the loss of operator's assets, terminal companies need to rely on technological innovation to extend their business life as long as possible without replacing set-top boxes. At present, the design of such products by terminal companies is technically no longer difficult.

The reporter learned that the core technology developed by Yongxin Bo as a good solution to this problem. According to Wang Wei, the core module integrates the set-top box hardware kernel and the universally-adapted software kernel, which can carry the “soft and hard dual core” of the entire set-top box within the range of thumb size. After adopting such a technology, when the set top box needs to be upgraded, the corresponding module is directly inserted, and corresponding functions can be realized.

For those small and medium-sized operators, such products are still very attractive. In Qian'an, Hebei, the set-top box “TV beibei” using the core technology has been commercialized, and the total domestic and international market shipments of this product have exceeded 100,000 units.

Of course, if the operator has sufficient financial resources, it can carry out a high starting point of translation, and it does not need such a transitional product. In addition, the cost of product upgrades is borne by whom, and operators and terminal companies also need to consider in advance.