MPEG-2, MPEG-4 is created by software my friend...sent and received by hardware my friend...and processed on the receiving end by software my friend.
If the software binary was compiled to support the architectural assembly/machine language of the CPU question - then assuming all else is well - doth will it execute!!!
Binaries for Sun Microsystem 32/64 traditional server platforms are "sun4u".
Binaries for the PC world typically are x86 and x86-64.
For the Macintosh/IBM PowerPC/Motorola world it's PPC or Mach or both.
etc...etc...
In other words, if the Viewsats RAM and Flash/NVRAM were not hard-wired/soldered - i.e., removal and replaceable with larger capacity units AND Viewsat CHOSE to compile HDTV / MPEG-4 / DVB-S2 application binaries for the existing CPU platform currently in the Viewsat - then a hardware/software upgrade is possible.
Problem is, in the business of making money - most if not all companies choose to get overly greedy and screw the customer by NOT doing so and force them into another ARTIFICIALLY CREATED upgrade path just to start the production - sales - profit margin cycle all over again.
The risk of course is that your customers call you out on the carpet for it and go with someone who is a little less brazen about it - hence it backfires.
Apple is guilty of this hardware and OS wise...
Microsoft is guilty of this applications wise...
The list is quite long...
One reason the TCP/IP protocol underlying the Internet has done so well is that it doesn't specify a hardware platform. All it asks PHYSICAL layer wise in general is:
"Can our IP datagram packet fit within your PHYSICAL layer frame?"
Note how in the last 6 months alone the phone companies and nationwide ISPs are trying to come up with creative non-hardware ways to control large portions of - if not all of the current Interent.
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