Ultra HD set-top box shipments to hit 48 million in 2020

Sam Rosen

Worldwide shipments of Ultra HD-capable set-top boxes will reach 48 million by 2020 while the market for HEVC set-top boxes will hit 88 million units, according to ABI Research.

The figures will mark a dramatic rise over the coming years, with the research firm predicting that just 60,000 high-end gateway set-top boxes with UltraHD and HEVC capabilities will be deployed this year.

ABI claims that after the initial push of UltraHD-capable multi-tuner gateway boxes, a second round of HD HEVC boxes will roll out in areas where there is demand for HD services but the last-mile network isn’t otherwise sufficient to deploy HD MPEG-4 services.

“HEVC is an enabler not just of UltraHD – an immersive digital experience which will give benefits especially to consumers using 55 inch and larger screens. It also will enable delivery of interactive HD services to consumers whose homes do not have high bandwidth interactive services,” said ABI Research Practice Director Sam Rosen.

“Beyond the strong penetration of HEVC and UltraHD set-top boxes, we see IPTV boxes developing to include terrestrial tuners for hybrid services licensing retransmission of all free-to-air services.”