The roll-out of yet another tranche of advanced set-tops is solidifying the proof-of-concept early deployments announced over the last year or so. TWC seem to be integrating a high-capacity STB gateway set-top which would complement their current, limited, in-home multiscreen strategy, which only covers iPad's held by digital TV subscribers.

Comcast similarly seem to be attempting to keep their multiscreen Xfinity service within their own network control where possible. The Televation set-top box in particular is a new breed of device which is designed specifically for transcoding and delivery to non-TV devices. While this device type reflects a more general move to supply content away from the TV screen, the prospect of using many individual set-tops, one per device, is cumbersome. More likely are strategies integrating device transcoding, delivery and control through a single, larger, gateway set-top box.

While multiscreen delivery seems to be the flavour of the show, multiroom has not been forgotten, as illustrated by Echostar's IP thin client box intended to connect a second or third TV set to a central mDVR or STB gateway. This allows the processing power of a single, main set-top box to be reflected in the capabilities of the client box and onto additional TVs in the home at a much lower cost than deploying a high-end HD DVR box to each TV set in the home. Designed entirely to shuttle IP content around the home network, thin client set-tops add another layer to the network controlled by pay TV operator by using in-home distribution. While there is yet to be any deployments of these type of boxes, deployments are very likely following increased demand for mDVRs and STB gateways, especially since pay TV, even in the US, only reaches around two of every three TV sets in subscriber homes currently.