Overall it was a solid quarter. What they demonstrated is some of the benefits they promised with the restructuring efforts.

Technically it is possible, but it would take expensive certification as well as modification of the systems, which retail for around $70,000. And every time you take control of the plane away from the pilot, it is a major problem.

By the end of the year, manufacturers will launch dual-format players and holdout studios will announce support for both standards.

Set-top boxes may not have the coolness factor of MP3 players or digital televisions. But growth is steady, and key developments like MPEG-4 and IPTV make this a particularly important period in the market.

With the market for Portable Media Player (PMP) semiconductors essentially doubling to $6.4 billion in 2009, the stakes in the portable video-processing market are high.

Right now, Microsoft is very interested in gaining market share. In order to do that, they need to take advantage of the fact that their console is out before the PS3 launches.