Érica Santana
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Whatever digital TV format the country selects, it will have to incorporate technological innovation developed in Brazil, says minister of Communications, Hélio Costa.

Brazilian engineers, technicians and scientists who have been working on the Brazilian Digital TV System (SBTVD) have made significant advances with so-called "middleware," which functions inside the TV set, and image compression. They have also created a "set top box," which is a system decoder. "Brazil can make 90% of the set top box, all we need to import is the chip," says minister Costa, who adds that the cost of the chip is only 8% to 10% of the cost of the decoder.

Translation: Allen Bennett