Hush, be still, can you hear it? From the corner of the room there is a hum coming from the set-top box. Initially I thought it might have been the hard drive, but advice from the CTO of one Europe’s leading box manufacturers was that it was not the disk, but the fan placed in the box to keep it cool.

The box in question is a Sky HD unit, one of three types of boxes subscribers can select according to their needs. Actually, when every variation is taken into account, there are in fact several dozen models to choose from.

The successful Sky formula of a basic receiver, digital video recorder (DVR) and HD-capable receiver is replicated by pay-TV operators the world over, though at present the inclusion of a DVR as a feature of the HD box is less common. Operators in continental Europe, where the retail model is beginning to displace the rental model on high-end boxes, have chosen to omit the DVR element in order to get the boxes to market more quickly.

The premise of the Triple Play offer has traditionally been three disparate services: usually TV, telephony and broadband. But until recently, other than being communications services, there has been little to link the three. But the operator is looking to “own” the home and the growing connectivity between this trio of services is beginning to make this possible. Mobile is starting to emerge as a fourth service, not just for established pay TV operators, but for telcos that already offer both mobile and IPTV.

What happens to “old” STBs?

When the shiny new HD box is purchased, chances are that it is replacing an older box which has just been removed from under the TV set in the living room. Moving this box to a second or even a third set elsewhere in the house may give the service provider the opportunity to derive some additional revenues. Such decisions become all the more important for the consumer as Europe goes through digital switchover. There is already evidence that in some markets digital terrestrial television is being deployed on these second and third sets.

It may seem hard to believe that some of the newer boxes have a near identical look and feel to those that were introduced with the arrival of digital television a dozen years ago. Of course there is a need to explain to the customer exactly how their box works without adding in numerous sub-clauses relating to each STB model.

The success of Universal Electronics’ Sky remote that it integrates both set-top box and television set, indicating how important it is to have that element of familiarity. In fact, many of the major platform operators – including Sky Italia and FOXTEL - offer a remote that works with any STB.

Twelve years ago, set-top box graphics took a leap forward from the black strips and captions that looked as if they had been laid out on a manual typewriter. They matched the graphics of the news and sports channels which were also emerging at that time.

Fast forward to the present and those same channels are not capable of putting up even the most basic captions without the sound effects department becoming involved.

Look and feel needs to catch up

The look and feel of the EPGs and menus on many set-top boxes is the same as it was 12 years ago. It seems that operators keep graphics and EPGs frozen in time to accommodate the performance of older boxes. The difficulty they face is that they would be unable to introduce new features just for new STBs without disenfranchising large sections of the installed base.

It is possible that the technology is beginning to settle down just enough to allow platform operators to draw a line in the silicon and say this is where they want to be.

BSkyB is in the process of purchasing Amstrad and gaining further insight into the world of the set-top box. And in the US, Echostar ran a satellite receiver business long before it became a broadcaster.

Multiple tuners, and more significantly perhaps, dual video and audio outputs, might soon be a standard item in the platform operators’ armory. Add to this the growing regulatory approval of Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology and the multiroom concept becomes even more attractive – particularly as the amount of wiring needed to connect everything would be significantly reduced.

Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, just approved the usage of Ultra Wideband this summer. UWB opens up the possibility of up to 2Gbit/s of data being transferred between personal computers, DVD players, set-top boxes and digital cameras.

Although the distance capabilities are relatively similar to those used by the established Bluetooth™ technology, the data capacity is far greater. UWB equipment operates across the bands between 3.1 and 10.6GHz.

UWB is already exempt from licensing in the US and Japan, and the UK regulator has been involved in negotiations with other European countries which are expected to lift their own licensing requirements in the next few months.

So the elements are coming together, and there are many more technologies around that the home can be inter-linked so that the networked home --managed by a single connected platform -- is now a reality.

Julian Clover is Editorial Director and European Digital Analyst for Broadband TV News.