Cost
Although using middleware based set-top box solution
will bring extra cost to the set-top boxes, the total cost incurred
may not exceed the remote controller based solution
First, the consumers will only need one instead of two
remote controllers, which reduces the cost of buying an extra
remote controller. Second, when the operators offer new
services, the set-top box may need to be upgraded, thus
introducing extra cost. Using middleware based set-top box,
e.g. MHEG5 based set-top box, upgrading of the set-top box
will be done through data transmission from the operators to
the set-top box on the backgrounds without the troublesome
operation of the users, which is transparent to the consumers.
In another word, the set-top box based solution is a
software based solution, it will definitely save the cost of
changing set-top boxes compared with the remote controller
based solution which does not give consideration to the
problem of set-top box upgrading.