Archive for June, 2008
June 8th, 2008 | 
Author: Ever wondered what that little square box is doing on top of the television where the picture of you Aunt Annie used to be? And why are there are wires coming out of it, that appear to be attached to the television? You might be heading in the right direction now… The answer is that is a digital cable TV box. Digital cable TV boxes can absorb signals sent by satellite, cable, and terrestrial aerial applications.
A digital cable TV box sometimes also known as “set-top box” is a device that enables a television set to become a user interface to the Internet. It also has the role of enabling a television set to receive and decode digital television broadcasts.
Digital TV set-top are a necessary tool for television viewers who still wish to view through their current analog television. Estimates are that 35 million homes in the United States alone are still using digital set-top boxes. Expectations are that the figure will gradually decrease as more and more families will switch to digital ready TV with integral receivers.
Since the onset of the internet era, the digital cable TV box has developed gradually to become a form of specialized computer, capable of interacting through the internet.
Typically a digital cable TV box will contain one or more microprocessors that will run the operating system. These can be compatible either to the Linux or Microsoft Windows operating systems. As in any other computer format, the box also comes with its own RAM, as well as its own MPEG Decoder chip. Some of the more sophisticated set-top boxes can also contain a hard drive for storing recorded television broadcasts.
If you bear in mind that your digital cable TV box is actually a form of computer, you have to regard it in that light only. The interaction between the box and the television has to be perfectly coordinated. The connections between the television and the box should all follow a logical sequence as laid out by the supplier.
Now that you know what the digital cable TV box on the top of your television is, and therefore how it operates.
Posted in 