UK research company Screen Digest thinks that the rate of take up of HD in Western Europe means it will outstrip both the US and Asia Pacific as a market for HD entertainment.
Already there are 12.8 million HD ready devices in Europe and by 2010 Screen Digest sees this rising to 82 million HD ready households. However only 17 million households are expect to actually take HD services by that time, despite having the equipment in place.
The report, HDTV global uptake and forecast to 2010, forecasts the market size for HD set-top boxes, HD capable games consoles and disk players and for MPEG-4 decoding chipsets used in these devices.
Screen Digest says the reasons for take off include the availability of large flat screens, broadcasters upgrading broadcast equipment to HD, stiffer competition between pay TV operators, the rush from games consoles to adopt HD and the wide spread adoption of H.264 as a more efficient codec,
Screen Digest also said that the majority of set top boxes to decode HD services are being procured by cable and satellite operators for distribution to new HD subscribers, and are partially or wholly subsidized by the pay TV operator, which has an impact on the economics.
Since autumn 2006, HD chipsets have fallen to prices which make HD set’top box prices acceptable to operators. The reduction in cost will only accelerate, with chipset prices falling as the volume grows.