Multiple set-top boxes for digital TV pose unique positional problems, says Angus Kidman.

Published in The Bulletin, August 13 2002

The future of television is digital but to receive digital you need a set-top box. The question is, who's going to pay for it? Pay-TV companies and the free-to-airs are already butting heads over whether digital capabilities should be added to the pay set-top boxes and, if they are, who is going to foot the bill.

Federal Communications Minister and the fellow who may end up deciding the issue, Richard Alston, thinks he's got the answer. Alston says having a single box that does it all isn't that important. "Does it really matter if you have three devices?" he asked last week.

Well, yes, it does. Set-top boxes might end up being cheap but where are we going to put all these ugly black plastic devices? Or, to put it in terms more familiar to Alston, it's a cabinet problem.

The typical lounge room already plays host to a TV set, DVD player, video recorder (since the DVD's no use for taping) and very probably an XBox or PlayStation2 as well. Finding a piece of furniture that can accommodate all these devices (let alone the associated discs, tapes, controllers, remotes and gamepads) can be quite a challenge.

The trend towards flat-screen TVs exacerbates the problem because, although they look mighty sweet, they can't support anything larger than a remote on top. They're also usually too big to fit inside existing entertainment units. You can also forget hiding the set-top boxes inside a cupboard because they have to be close enough to plug into the TV, and free from things such as doors, which would block the remote control's signal.

The problems don't end there. You'll need spare power points to plug the boxes into (and most likely somewhere to hide the power board). Then there's the dust problem. All those cables and boxes are pure dust magnets.

Hence the appeal of a combined digital-pay-TV box: it's one less thing to make room for. However, given the stellar record of poor co-operation between the local networks and their pay-TV rivals, such a device may be some time in coming. A stand-off might drive the government towards a proposal being considered in the United States: forcing all manufacturers of new TV sets to include digital receivers as standard.