Set-top boxes can recieve digital video and audio from four main broadcast technologies which are cable, terrestrial, satellite and xDSL. Even though it is important for a set-top box manufacturer to cater to all these technologies, it is hardly cost effective to support multiple receivers. Unfortuntely, there is no easy formula that set-top box manufacturers can use to determine consumers choice of broadcast technology. Furthermore, each of the broadcast technologies utilize different ASSPs, the choice of these ASSPs is often influenced by the broadcaster. Unfortunately, ASSPs from different semiconductor companies are not designed to interface with each other, making it virtually impossible to have one standard set-top box design to meet multiple broadcast technologies.

The low-cost Spartan-II FPGAs can provide the complex logic required to interface between the front end and the various modulation technologies. This allows set-top box manufactures to build a standard set-top box that can be programmed to support multiple broadcast technologies.