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Evolution Digital eBOX IP HYBRID Set-Top Box – 2015

Evolution Digital offers video delivery technology for content providers through their TV set-top box software and hardware platforms. Multimedia content delivery is moving away from traditional over-the-air and cable-based technology and shifting to IP-based internet streams. Evolution Digital wanted to deliver a product to providers that bridged the gap during this transition by developing the eBOX IP Hybrid, a product that gives users a single interface for watching over-the-air and IP-delivered content. While merging these content streams in software is a job in itself, packaging the necessary hardware in a compact and affordable package is its own undertaking. Evolution Digital partnered with us to develop the product’s component layout, usability strategy, and industrial design. The result of this endeavor earned the 2016 Cablefax award for Best New Product.

At the core of the IP Hybrid set-top box is a new electronics architecture with an emphasis on modularity. We worked closely with Evolution Digital’s engineers to explore options for internal component configuration and how these physical relationships affected the form factor. The final internal layout can be reconfigured at the factory to meet the needs of different markets, with the option for user-accessible storage upgrades.

After mocking up the possible component configurations digitally, we created low-fidelity block models that let us evaluate the form factors in context with TVs and other living room objects. A key feature of the product is user-accessible expansion through flash and hard drive storage. We developed design and engineering solutions that gave the customer easy access to these expansion modules that are easy to use and are mechanically secure.

We worked closely with Evolution Digital engineers and manufacturing partners throughout the project, meshing our vision for design and usability with technical requirements for input/output interfaces, cooling, expansion, and vendor needs. The end result is a product that delivers more than the typical cable box in a fraction of the size, and in an attractive and contemporary design.