Consumer wants

iSuppli market Watch reports that, nearly two-thirds of consumers want their televisions to link to the Internet, a sentiment that will help propel rapid sales growth for network-enabled consumer electronics devices in the coming years.

In line with consumers’ desires, home networking is migrating beyond its PC-centric beginnings to incorporate a variety of entertainment-oriented consumer-electronics devices, including DVD recorders, cable modems, Digital Televisions (DTVs), multi-room Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), digital media adapters, set-top boxes and video game consoles. Shipments of these network-equipped devices, along with consumer PCs and home network bridges and gateways, are expected to rise to 732.9 million units by 2011, more than triple the 225.3 million that were shipped in 2006.

iSuppli also found that,

• Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and multi-room DVR demand is driving cable, satellite and telecom operators to consider a variety of new high-speed home networking technologies, ranging from coax (Moca, HPNA, Hana), to power line, to Wi-Fi (802.11n).
• Makers of televisions and other consumer electronics devices are incorporating Internet Protocol (IP)-based connectivity to enable access to both user-created content and to new Internet-based media portals.
• Emerging regions, including India and South America, will experience only a slight expansion of home networking usage, despite having strong broadband growth. When deployed, home networking in this region will primarily be used to link notebook PCs to broadband gateways.