1 Type of Question

Task-oriented Question that should eventually result in (a) new Recommendation(s).

2 Motivation

Television users in the home are likely to access television programmes, sound-broadcast programmes and other additional services from a variety of service providers that use a variety of delivery systems.

For instance, a cable television user may access television programmes and sound programmes from the cable television network to which that user is connected, from terrestrial broadcasting, from satellite broadcasting, from recorded material such as videocassettes, DVDs and CDs, or even from the Internet.

Such programmes may be received in digital form or in analogue form, and they may be open, or subject to conditional access.

Reception and presentation of this host of programmes in different formats requires the use of a variety of demodulators and decoders, to say nothing of conditional access. Such devices could be integrated into the home television receiver, but this condition is sometimes unviable, due to constraints imposed by the marketplace. The present situation is that signals received on different delivery systems are often processed in different, dedicated "set-top boxes" which provide outputs to the television and sound displays in a form that a normal television or sound display can understand, e.g. as analogue component or analogue composite signals. When the number of set-top boxes in the home becomes large, there is also a need for a switcher, to switch the appropriate signals to the input of the television and sound presentation devices.

It would obviously be beneficial to home users if they could use a single universal integrated receiver or a single universal set-top box. This should be able to switch or to be switched to the various delivery systems over which programmes are received, and it should contain all the required demodulators, decoders and conditional access devices. The cost of this universal set-top box, or the incremental cost of a universal integrated receiver, would clearly be lower that the aggregate cost of individual set-top boxes, and the cabling required in the home would be vastly simplified.

The purpose of the present Question is to study the functional requirements that such a universal integrated receiver or universal set-top box should meet, and to define its preferred internal and external architectures.

3 Questions

• What are the functional requirements that a universal integrated receiver or a universal set-top box should meet, in order to allow an optimal connection of television and sound presentation devices to the various delivery systems over which television and sound material can be received in the home, and to also provide conditional access facilities as required?
• Which array of input signals should such a universal integrated receiver or set-top box be designed to accept and process?
• Should the integrated receiver or set-top box be designed to automatically identify the form of the input signal to which it is switched, so as to automatically switch to the appropriate demodulators or decoders?
• Which output signals should such a universal integrated receiver or set-top box be designed to deliver to its interconnection with television and sound presentation devices in the home?
• Which could in principle be the internal, possibly modular architecture for such a universal receiver or set-top box?

4 Expected results and anticipated target dates

It is expected that this Question will result in the preparation of new Recommendations, the first of which is expected by the year 2001.

5 Relationships

Liaison should be established with ITU-R Study Group 6 and with the IEC in the study of this Question.