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Abstract:
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Compact discs and their players have been among the world's most successful consumer electronics products in the past few decades. The majority of these players are audio CD players. The CD-ROM standard, an extension to the original CD audio format, has proved to be equally successful in personal computer markets. The second generation of this optical technology, called DVD, is now making its debut. Large consumer electronics, entertainment and computer companies are developing a common standard that will create a wide range of compatible products around the DVD disc. Unlike the present CD discs, the DVD discs have been designed from the very beginning with interchangeability in mind. DVD discs are also based on a model that will allow a variable rate playback of all kinds of randomly accessible data. This together with disc's high capacity will create totally new opportunities - especially for video and multimedia applications. A change is also taking place in television broadcasting. Video and audio signals are changing from analog to digital in satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcasting. The European Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Consortium has introduced standards covering these digital transmission media, and the first satellite transmissions according to the DVB started in 1996. The DVB technology requires a new kind of home terminal, called a set-top box, in order to receive and decode the digital MPEG-2 format transmissions. Moreover, as more and more information of other types is stored and delivered in digital form, this kind of digital receiver provides a fruitful platform for easy control over the vast amount of digital information. The plain digital satellite receiver can be turned into an easy-to-use digital home terminal, linking the electronic media, the Internet and the computer world together in the living room. The purpose of this thesis is to give an overview of the different members of the DVD family, and to study the feasibility of supporting different DVD applications in the set-top box. As DVD technology is in its early stages, the main focus is on the DVD-ROM and DVD Video that will be first commercial applications. In particular, the DVD Video application and the playback of DVD Video discs using typical set-top box hardware are discussed in detail. /Kir10 |