LG Electronics has started production of high-definition television (HDTV) set-top boxes for DirecTV, LG announced Oct. 19. The boxes, being sold under the DirecTV brand name, feature DirecTV’s advanced program guide, advanced security and protected digital outputs with simultaneous component/composite output as well as a Linux operating system and USB port. The boxes allow viewers to watch MPEG-4 HD and MPEG-2 standard definition programming, as well as terrestrial ATSC (Advanced Television System Committee) digital HDTV and standard definition television.