Set-Top Boxes

ALSO CALLED: STB, Cable Boxes, and Set Top Boxes
DEFINITION: A set-top box is a device that enables a television set to become a user interface to the Internet and also enables a television set to receive and decode digital television (DTV) broadcasts. DTV set-top boxes are sometimes called receivers. A set-top box is necessary to television viewers who wish to use their current analog television sets to receive digital broadcasts. It is estimated that 35 million  … 
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SET-TOP BOXES DEFINITION (continued): …  homes will use digital set-top boxes by the end of 2006, the estimated year ending the transition to DTV.In the Internet realm, a set-top box is really a specialized computer that can "talk to" the Internet - that is, it contains a Web browser (which is really a Hypertext Transfer Protocol client) and the Internet's main program, TCP/IP. The service to which the set-top box is attached may be through a telephone line as, for example, with WebTV, or through a cable TV company like TCI.In the DTV realm, a typical digital set-top box contains one or more microprocessors for running the operating … 
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