The convergence of devices and technologies constitutes two main ingredients: content—specifically, multimedia content—and control. Multimedia, which once made waves in the PC arena, must again find its place in converged devices. Starting with an evolution in scanning technology from interlace to progressive, then in resolution from standard definition to "high definition" to "full high definition", multimedia is now set to travel with the consumer.

Although there are only a handful of commercial HDTV content broadcasters in Asia-Pacific, one research firm pegs HDTV service subscribers in the region will grow from 8 million in 2006 to about 39 million in 2011. Some analysts estimate the HDTV display market is growing at over 40 percent in unit terms and about half that in revenue terms, clearly squeezing profits.

To recover from the dwindling margins in the flat-panel TV segment, Hewlett-Packard Co. is planning to offer a line of networked HDTV sets. The HDTV 2.0, as HP calls the new line, will connect to home networks and the Internet using Ethernet and wireless networking.

iSuppli projects that global shipments of such "networked" TVs will rise to 21.3 million units in 2009, up by a factor of more than 13 from merely 1.6 million last year. The firm expects shipments to nearly triple this year alone at 4.3 million units. For IPTV, iSuppli predicts global subscribers to reach 103 million in 2011, expanding at a CAGR of 92.5 percent from 3.9 million last year.

Meanwhile, over 62 percent of respondents to an In-Stat Asia-Pacific survey said they have more than one PC at home, nearly 98 percent have Internet access at home, and just over 40 percent have network routers or a residential gateway.

Multimedia content is not only poised to tour around the house, but outside too, as mobile TV. With Portio Research predicting that half the world's population will be using a mobile phone by the end of 2009, the potential for mobile TV is staggering. Asia-Pacific, perhaps the biggest potential market for mobile TV, is expected to see 2 billion cellphone users by 2011, with India growing the fastest and barely ahead of China.

There are an estimated 100 million 3G/UMTS subscribers worldwide, and that number is expected to grow to nearly 900 million in 2011. The number of broadband or cable subscribers has reached about 300 million, and is set to increase to about 500 million by 2009. If multimedia applications such as video streaming, video mail, video telephony, videoconferencing, video call centers, video blogging and IP-based video surveillance will become a part of the daily lives of those subscribers, traffic will surely explode. Video and multimedia traffic thus presents challenges for those providing the underlying infrastructure, but also offers equally lucrative revenue opportunities.

Even as we race to deliver multimedia, we are reeling with the overabundance of video broadcast standards, including DMB, DVB-H and Qualcomm Inc.'s MediaFlo, the variety of A/V codecs, the complexity of codecs such as H.264, the demand to address quality issues like video corruption and lip synching, and, of course, interoperability issues in a multivendor, multiservice world. These are the very issues that the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC)-Taiwan aims to discuss on August 23-24 at the Taipei International Convention Center (see www.english.taiwan.escasiaexpo.com). The summit titled, "Winning the race for multimedia quality," will examine standards and recommend technologies, architectures and design principles most appropriate for A/V applications, including TV sets, car infotainment, portable media players and cellphones.

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