China’s National Radio and Television Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology are drafting national standards for “integrated TVs” — sets that receive broadcast channels without a separate box. The guiding principle is “one TV, one remote,” Chinese outlet ITHome reports.
The two agencies want the box’s core functions moved into the TV’s own hardware and software, cutting spare devices, cables and remotes. Such a set should handle live broadcasts on its own, pause and time-shift them, replay missed programs and stream video on demand. Support for ultra-high-definition content and voice control is part of the plan as well.
In practice, viewers would land on live channels right after switching the TV on. There would be no box to power up and no input to switch.
A quick cutover is not on the table. Millions of TVs already in homes lack the hardware or software for this, and a simple update will not add the features. New models will come first, and a full transition will take several years as households replace their sets.
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The shift may reach markets outside China, which remains the world’s largest producer of TVs and set-top boxes. Notebookcheck notes that a change on this scale could push manufacturers toward the same approach in other countries.
The standalone set-top box has been a fixture of home entertainment for decades, and this standard makes that entire class of device optional. At least where the TV itself can cover every function.
