IBC 2009: UK set-top box provider Pace has unveiled a new hybrid set-top box aimed at telco and IPTV operators which offers a fully integrated 3D user interface, enabling operators to introduce higher levels of interactivity through a range of graphic enhancements and effects.

The company has embedded a set-top box chipset with 3D graphic capabilities, and is making it available to software and middleware partners for the development of operator solutions.  The new UI is capable of supporting a number of enhanced services, including video-on-demand, advanced IP-based EPG information or graphic information for screen and application transitions.

Mathias Hautefort, President of Pace, commented that the company anticipates growing demand for hybrid set-top models, adding that by '"lighting up" its products' Ethernet interface, the company has "already won customers that include Canal+, BT and Viasat.  We expect more to follow as we work to launch new hybrid boxes and exploit the latent hybrid potential in many of our deployed HD PVRs."