With HDMI streaming sticks from Google, Roku and Amazon still all the rage, it follows that the cable operators will eventually offer set-tops box in this popular form-factor.
While we’ve already seen Alticast trot out demos of an RDK-based set-top-on-a-stick, Broadcom used this week’s International CES to show a new design, the BCM72502, that will serve as the innards of HDMI sticks capable of providing “operator-level functionality and security.”
As for what’s going inside Broadcom’s design, it will pack an HEVC decoder and HDMI 2.0 (elements that will be key as operators expand into 4K video), 802.11ac WiFi for in-home wireless distribution, and an option for Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) 2.0.
Boiled down, the platform, which is currently sampling, will give MSOs the ability to tap into designs that so far have been relegated to the OTT world, but pack enough punch to deliver “full-featured set-top box functionality.”
According to Broadcom, MSOs will have the option to use the same platform to provide full-service IPTV using a multi-room gateway/client architecture, to a standalone dongle for “entry level” OTT offerings.
