Abstract: A digital set-top box is disclosed. The digital set-top box comprises a tuner, a demultiplexer, a MPEG-2 decoder, a deinterlace video processor and a microprocessor. The digital set-top box further comprises a digital to analog converter. The digital set-top box can transfer the received digital broadcasting signal to a display signal compatible with the format to be received by a display, such as VGA or DVI signals, and a user can watch the display signal on the display.

Abstract: A computer system having a direct media access mode is described. The computer system has at least a media access mode, a computer, a display, an MPEG decoder, a bus switch, and a controller. The computer system has a computer mode and a direct media access mode. In the computer mode, the computer is turned on and the bus switch switches the bus data from the media access device to the computer for general use. In the direct media access mode, the computer is turned off and the bus switch switches the bus data from the media access device to the MPEG decoder. The MPEG decoder performs decoding and outputs a video stream to be displayed on the display.