DiviCom Inc, the Milpitas, California provider of MPEG-2-based products and components for digital video networking, has begun volume shipment of television set-top decoders for the network and is also supplying the MPEG-2 program encoders being used by FutureVision of America Corp, one of the seven video information providers that have reserved channels on the system. DiviCom’s decoders can be upgraded over Bell Atlantic Corp’s switched digital network so – as programming and service options evolve – consumers will receive these enhanced programs and services without having to make any adjustments to the set-top box, Bell and Divicom said. We do not use any mask ROM in the Digital Entertainment Terminals, said Chris Adams, DiviCom’s manager of engineering and set-top boxes. He added The software the box uses is downloaded over the network. Most ‘upgrades’ are software-based… and there is also a PC Card slot in the set- tops which can be used for most hardware upgrades that are likely to be desired.
