Due to the remarkable shipment growth in Asia/Pacific and particularly India, the worldwide satellite STB market chalked up growth in 2008. This is according to an In-Stat report, which noted that outside of Asia/Pacific and Latin America, regional markets remain sluggish or even negative.

The report also noted indicated another important trend—the rise of high-definition (HD) digital video recorders (DVRs). "In-Stat expects HD DVRs to overtake shipments of Standard Definition (SD) DVR boxes in 2009, with some providers no longer offering SD DVR boxes," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst. "More providers will stop offering them in the future, with some going so far as to eliminate all SD boxes from their product line-up in a few years."

The research found that worldwide satellite STB market grew by 6 per cent in 2008, bolstered by triple-digit growth in the Asia/Pacific region. Thomson was the largest provider of satellite STBs in 2008. Other STB providers include Coship, EchoStar, Homecast, Humax, KAONMedia, Pace, Samsung, TechniSat, and Altech UEC.

The semiconductor BOM for satellite STBs ranges dramatically from under Rs.1,206.64 ($25) to well over $100 depending on advanced features, hard drive size and the number of supported video streams, the report said. Key semiconductor suppliers include ALi, Broadcom, NEC, NXP, STMicroelectronics and Zoran.

Network connections are becoming increasingly important to support whole-home DVR services, over the top video to the TV, place-shifting, and remote DVR scheduling.