<p>This thesis covers the investigation of different content sources on the Internet and the analysis of the requirements they put on a set-top box. It also covers the adaptation of the set-top box to one of these sources. </p><p>An IP based set-top box (IP-STB) is mainly constructed for access to TV and video distributed over a high speed network. The IP-STB is also connected to the Internet and it potentially has access to all of the Internet based content. This could provide the user of the IP-STB with a lot of new services and was the stating point for my thesis work.</p><p>The goal of this thesis was to make a broad investigation of different content sources on the Internet and to adapt an IP-STB to one of them. </p><p>The investigation focused on streaming media content and how it was distributed over the Internet. It resulted in a representative overview of the streaming media content available and how the content is distributed. The IP-STB was adapted to handle the Streaming HTTP protocol which made it possible to listen to web radio transmissions from Sveriges Radio and other providers using the same protocol for their distribution.</p>

This thesis covers the investigation of different content sources on the Internet and the analysis of the requirements they put on a set-top box. It also covers the adaptation of the set-top box to one of these sources. An IP based set-top box (IP-STB) is mainly constructed for access to TV and video distributed over a high speed network. The IP-STB is also connected to the Internet and it potentially has access to all of the Internet based content. This could provide the user of the IP-STB with a lot of new services and was the stating point for my thesis work. The goal of this thesis was to make a broad investigation of different content sources on the Internet and to adapt an IP-STB to one of them. The investigation focused on streaming media content and how it was distributed over the Internet. It resulted in a representative overview of the streaming media content available and how the content is distributed. The IP-STB was adapted to handle the Streaming HTTP protocol which made it possible to listen to web radio transmissions from Sveriges Radio and other providers using the same protocol for their distribution.