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  • The Perspectives for Over the Top Television


    INTERVIEW. The emergence of Over the Top Television (OTT) technologies is not widely viewed as a threat to the existence of telcos in their quest to transform IPTV services, an official has said.

    Victor Dominguez, vice president of DS2, a leading provider of semiconductors for high-speed communications over existing wires, said fears doing the rounds in the information communication technology sector had no substance at the moment.

    “It is early to say. OTT has a huge potential and there is growing acceptance in some regions like the USA. The message I am hearing from telcos is that OTT is ok and will have market adoption, but cannot deliver quality.”

    “When it comes to good TV experience, the telcos are saying that they still have an advantage. Also, they are currently in discussions on whether OTT will be able to pay for premium content (without counting on a monthly subscription fee of the end user),” said Dominguez.

     Victor Dominguez

    Dominguez was reacting to questions by Biz-News.com on whether the emergence of OTT would pose any threats to the existing IPTV.

    He said small format to medium quality OTT was fine, but quickly noted that large format to HD/high quality IPTV was better.

    “On the other hand OTT has its own challenges with more and more quality content being provided over free DTT,” said Dominguez.

    Although he admitted that the OTT and IPTV would compete and fill in different market demands, Dominguez hinted that the regular internet connection offerings from telcos were rather expensive nowadays.

    He dismissed any partnerships between OTT and telcos.

    Dominguez’s DS2 was founded in 1998 and has more than 130 employees based in Santa Clara, Tokyo (Japan), Taipei and Valencia (Spain).

    Dominguez said because DS2 chips could operate over power lines, phone lines and coaxial cable, users didn’t have to install new Ethernet wires to set up a robust wired network.

    “DS2 technology is widely used in many markets, including consumer home networks, IPTV distribution applications, Smart Grid or Ethernet over Coax services."

    “Telco IPTV (ie, a broadcast-quality TV service provided by a Telecommunication Service Provider, as opposed to "Internet TV" or "Over-the-Top TV" services such as Hulu.com or Apple iTunes) is one of the main drivers for wired home networking (and powerline networking in particular)."

    “There are multiple reasons why Telco Service Providers choose powerline-based solutions for IPTV distribution instead of Wireless solutions like 802.11n,” said Dominguez.

    He said wireless LANs, which usually have signal propagation problems where there are multiple walls between a transmitter and a receiver, especially with metal and concrete walls Wireless LAN signals, were not easily contained inside a single home.
    He said as a result there was potential for interference to neighbour Wireless LANs, especially in densely populated areas.

    He said most Wireless LAN products did not have the reliability and Quality of Service (QoS) required to support applications like HDTV.

    “Delivering broadcast-quality HDTV channels in a Telco IPTV environment is specially challenging because the content is delivered over multicast UDP streams. UDP does not have automatic retransmission capabilities, so any lost UDP packet may create visual artifacts (macroblocking) on the TV screen."

    “Also, most Set-Top Boxes (STB) used in Telco IPTV applications have limited reception buffers, which means that they are very sensitive to packet latency and jitter. DS2 provides high-speed powerline communication chipsets specially designed for Telco IPTV applications, that provide the performance, latency and QoS required for HD video streaming."

    “For applications where maximum performance is required, DS2 offers the DSS9101+DSS7800 chipset (Aitana), with a maximum PHY data rate of 200 Mbps. DS2 also offers a lower speed solution, the DSS8101+DSS7800 chipset (Montgo), with a maximum PHY data rate of 100 Mbps,” Dominguez said.

    He said both solutions were fully interoperable and pinned compatible, allowing system designers to create multiple products with a common PCB design.

    Dominguez said both Aitana and Montgo chips were powered by DS2’s SPIRIT firmware, which provides advanced capabilities such as TR-069 compliant remote management, programmable QoS, automatic repeating capabilities, secure firmware upgrade, automatic multicast support via IGMP-snooping and many other features.

  • Sky Picks Pace STB to Roll-out HD Content in Germany and Austria


    PayTV operator Sky has selected Pace’s HD technology for its set-top box deployments in Germany and Austria, which will begin rolling out in August.

    Pace has been a set-top box technology partner of Sky, formerly Premiere, for a number of years.

    The new DS830 STB gives Sky the full flexibility to roll-out HD services with support for both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.

    Richard Slee, president of Pace, said the DS830 is a classic example of Pace’s ability to design best in class set-top boxes.

    "As it is rolled out, this box is set to become an important part of Sky’s payTV offering and will be the launch-pad for a universe of HD content," he said.

    "We look forward to the success of this product in the market and to the positive effects that its introduction will have on payTV market across German-speaking Europe."

    At the front-end, the fully DVB compliant DS830NP includes one DVB-S2 tuner and one demodulator.

    It incorporates NDS conditional access and Fusion middleware and has an external power supply unit to reduce box size.

    It also meets the criteria outlined in Pace’s own low environmental impact (LEI) initiative.

    Pace recently won the contract to provide an HD-capable set-top box to Latin America’s largest multi-service cable provider – Brazil’s cable operator NET Serviços de Comunicação.

    And in a separate announcement earlier this week, Pace revealed its interim results for the half year ended 30 June 2009, which showed revenue for the period increased to GBP £526.5m, up from £231.1m in the same period last year.

    Demand for Pace’s products drove strong volume growth to 8.5m units, compared to 2.8m units for the same period last year.

  • VOD Viewing Jumps 15% in June


    The number of people watching video-on-demand (VOD) programming in the US surged in June – fuelled by rises in the popularity of pay-per-view content and more children taking advantage of free programming, according to Rentrak.

    The increases made June the most-viewed month for video-on-demand this year, delivering more than 589 million transactions.

    According to Rentrak’s OnDemand Essentials service, year-to-year comparison for the month of June delivered a 15 per cent increase in overall VOD transactions and a 16 per cent increase in the number of unique set top boxes (STBs) accessing OnDemand.

    Additionally, free-on-demand (FOD) Kids content was up 7 per cent from May figures and delivered its strongest month of the year with more than 106 million transactions.

    June is historically a strong month for transactional-on-demand (TOD) viewing, and TOD continued this trend by delivering the highest number of transactions in a single month so far this year for the category.

  • LG Delivers First HDTVs To Instantly Stream Netflix


    LG is introducing the first HDTVs capable of streaming Netflix movies without the need for an external device such as game console or set-top box.

    The online movie rental service will be available in North America on LG’s new 47-inch LCD HDTV LH50 and 50-inch plasma HDTV PS80.

    The Full HD 1080p HDTVs have Netflix instant streaming software embedded directly in the sets.

    While movie choices are automatically displayed on the TV screen and can be viewed instantly through the HDTV, Netflix members have to first add movies and TV episodes to their individual instant Queues, via the Netflix Web site.

    Earlier collaboration between LG and Netflix resulted in the first Network Blu-ray Disc Player to offer consumers the ability to instantly watch thousands of movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix.

    Peter Reiner, senior vice president, marketing and strategy at LG USA said there were 2.5 million North American households looking to purchase a networked TV.

    He said incorporating broadband connectivity into its new HDTVs became a natural progression of the partnership with Netflix.

    "Both LG and Netflix are committed to offering consumers easy access to entertainment on demand and LG’s newest HDTVs make it easier than ever to access thousands of movies and TV shows instantly," he said.

  • Growth in HDTVs Driving Demand for HD STBs


    Shipments of set-top boxes are expected to peak this year, at least in mature markets, and then commence a gradual decline.

    However the rolling series of analog TV shutoffs in countries around the world, combined with the strong uptake of HDTV sets, mean that HD STBs will form a growing fraction of the total market, according to ABI Research.

    HD STBs are expected to account for about 30 per cent of all STB shipments as soon as 2010.

    Michael Inouye, ABI Research industry analyst, said this will be accompanied by a progressive movement from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 for content delivery.

    He said a growing affinity for HD boxes over SD is closely related to MPEG-4.

    "As more HDTVs find their way into homes, the demand for HD content grows in kind," he said.

    "Anticipating this demand, some countries and operators have elected to support the more efficient standard up front or to begin deployments of upgraded CPE."

    Inouye said the price points of boxes are converging.

    So much so that he said MPEG-4 and in some cases HD are getting sufficiently inexpensive that some operators will be providing them to their customers by default.

    While some STB vendors feel that demand for standard models will be around for a long time, reports from infrastructure vendors suggest a push towards MPEG-4 encoders, according to Inouye.

    So he said vendors will have to support MPEG-4.

    In markets primarily served by digital terrestrial broadcasts where most sales of STBs are retail, especially those with a large MPEG-2 installed base, this means that vendors will have to encourage consumers to switch by reducing the prices of upgraded boxes.

  • VUDU Partners Brightcove For Ad-Supported STB content


    VUDU has agreed a partnership with online video platform Brightcove that will allow its customers to distribute their content directly to the living room television via VUDU.

    The first feature available in the VUDU Labs area of the VUDU service will be the MyPlay application, which offers current Sony Music videos through Sony Music’s MyPlay Video Network affiliate program.

    Edward Lichty, executive vice president of strategy and content for VUDU, said that for the first time, content owners can make all of their online video available on the television without changing their monetization strategy.

    He said the partnership supports multiple advertising platforms, allowing Brightcove customers to maintain their existing online video monetization strategy and infrastructure while expanding their distribution reach to the television.

    VUDU is the first partner to support Brightcove-powered, ad-supported content distribution on a set-top-box.

    "Through our integration with Brightcove’s online video platform, we are combining the selection and control of the online video experience with the visual richness and lean-back satisfaction of the television experience," he said.

    Chris Johnston, director of technology partnership at Brightcove, said it had been challenging to expand online video distribution beyond websites to the living room.

    "The partnership announced today with VUDU is a significant step forward for media businesses that want to centrally manage distribution and monetization across the Web while also taking advantage of the high-quality TV experience VUDU enables," he said.

    The integration with Brightcove utilizes VUDU’s Rich Internet Applications (RIA) platform to add on-demand video to the VUDU service by enabling ad-supported content.

    RIA enables VUDU to support dynamic ad logic and live ad calls to content owners’ existing advertising platforms.

    Content owners retain complete control over their advertising inventory.

  • Vudu Extends Content To 3rd Party Hardware


    Vudu is to make its 14,000-plus movie library available on Entone set-top boxes and DVRs.

    The deal is the first time Vudu’s content, including around 1,500 HD movies, has been made available on third-party hardware.

    Entone supplies set-top hardware to smaller regional US telco video providers, many of whom have limited or non-existent video-on-demand offerings.

    Users of Entone units will only require a software upgrade to add the entire functionality of the Vudu BX100, including on-demand access to HD and HDX movies.

    While Vudu has cut the price of its entry-level box to USD $149, the possibilities offered by extending its pay-per-view content to a much wider audience are huge.

    By moving from being a box manufacturer to a service provider, Vudu could extend itself into network-enabled consumer electronics.

    This would allow it to join the likes of Netflix and Amazon Video-on-Demand as a supported feature in everything from HDTVs and Blu-ray players to home theater systems and game consoles.

    Entone said Vudu-compatible Entone set-top boxes are expected to get the software upgrade sometime this summer.

    It should include all the features available on the existing Vudu hardware, including the Vudu Labs features that include access to YouTube and Flickr.

  • 2011 Peak For SD DTT STB semiconductors


    High-definition Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) set top boxes (STBs) offer semiconductor makers a short term spike in opportunity.

    But standard definition (SD) DTT STBs will be a more sustainable market for manufacturers, according to In-Stat.

    The researchers forecast that the semiconductor opportunity in SD DTT boxes will peak at nearly USD $500 million by 2011.

    Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst, said the US analog shut off has driven a surge of HD converter boxes in 2008 and 2009.

    "However, this bubble will wane, while the SD DTT market continues to grow across a broader set of geographic markets," he said.

    Other findings from In-Stat include:

    • The European DTT STB Market Value will peak in 2011 at $1.6 billion.
    • On a European country basis, UK leads the market, followed by Spain, France, Germany, and then Italy.
    • Total DTT STB unit shipments will peak at 44 million in 2009.
    • Key component categories include the Demux/CPU/AV decoder and the MPEG-2 MP@HL/Graphics IC

  • AnySource Media: Simple UI is Key To Internet-enabled HDTV

    INTERVIEW: Mike Harris, CEO of AnySource Media, talks to hdtv.biz-news about his company’s Internet-enabled TV platform that will start appearing in HDTV sets in the second half of 2009.

    Offering consumers dozens of "virtual channels" that can be viewed on their HDTVs alongside traditional TV networks – without requiring a separate box or complicated wiring – seems like a great idea.

    As does the ability to easily navigate the Internet content using a standard remote, and the fact that all of this isn’t going to bump up the price of a new wide-screen set.

    So where’s the catch?

    Well, if you listen to Mike Harris, CEO of AnySource Media (ASM), there isn’t one.

    His company provides a turnkey Internet-enabled TV platform, called the Internet Video Navigator (IVN), to silicon companies and HDTV manufacturers.

    He told hdtv.biz-news that ASM is currently working with the makers of some high-volume, mass market HDTV brands to integrate the IVN client software directly into their sets.

    While he couldn’t name names, the first ASM-equipped products will launch in the US in the second half of 2009 and will then be rolled out in Europe and Asia in 2010.

    No-Cost Embedded Software

    ASM’s embedded IVN software allows TV viewers to navigate Internet video, selecting sites and jumping to specific videos, or sit back and watch videos like a traditional broadcast experience.

    Mike Harris, CEO
    AnySource Media

    Where ASM scores highly is that its software is simply layered on top of chip technology already in HDTV sets.

    Harris said this gives it a big cost advantage – while providing manufacturers with a great opportunity to differentiate their sets in a competitive market.

    Since the intention is to get the platform into the market in "high volume, very quickly", ASM is offering set manufacturers the software licence for free.

    He said with no additional cost for the HDTV makers, the price of the television sets isn’t affected.

    Content Providers

    ASM’s full list of content providers is not yet available, however the company showed 80 different partner channels at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

    Harris said the idea is to provide complementary content rather than trying to be an alternative to satellite or cable providers.

    "What we are offering is a high quality experience at no additional cost, which is very easy to use with a standard remote and is very scaleable," he said.
    "The TV continues to grow even as you own it."

    Key to this is the idea that it is "TV on TV" not "Internet on TV". For this reason, ASM has focused on major features such as video quality and channel change speed – which Harris said is almost as quick as a TV experience.

    "It’s about sitting back and relaxing, watching content on a big screen when you have more time to spend surfing for content and discovering new things," he said.

    To make all this possible on low-cost embedded hardware much of the processing burden has been moved to the IVN Data Center.

    The back-end data center aggregates and streams content from providers to the IVN user interface on the television.

    Tailored Content

    Harris said the mix of channels and content depends on the set manufacturer – and on where the user lives.

    So when consumers buy an HDTV a certain list of channels will be available immediately.

    "That list can be modified by the consumer, so if they like sports channels they can put them at the top of the list – or they can remove channels altogether," he said.

    "New channels can appear all the time, without any change to the device being required.

    "We have taken a very scaleable approach."

    Harris said the result was that a particular HDTV, in a particular region would have its own unique look and feel.

    How that was arranged was all taken care of in the backend.

    "An HDTV in Germany will have a different list of channels to one, say, in the US," he said.

    As well as issues such as language and cultural preferences, the fact some content sites are geo-targeted will also influence channel listings.

    Targeted Advertising

    For ASM to make its money the IVN platform includes a targeted advertising and user management system, managed at the IVN Data Center.

    Harris said that AnySource’s method of monetizing content depended on the given market.

    "We have approached advertising in a way that makes it work for the content providers," he said.

    "The service is free for consumers."

    So AnySource doesn’t interfere with content providers’ existing business models, which means if they are ad-supported they keep all the revenues.

    "What we have, through our user interface, is additional ad inventory," said Harris. "There are spaces for ads during the browsing period. That’s where we generate our ad revenue."

    In addition, AnySource also receives commission for any paid content transmissions.

    HDTV And Beyond

    In March, ASM announced it had secured USD $3.2 million in additional funding.

    As well as being used to bring the platform to commercialization and increase the number of content providers, it will fund the development of new technologies that will provide long-term flexibility for viewing online video on HDTVs.

    While ASM is concentrating on HDTVs at present, Harris said the platform had been built for a wide range of devices.

    He said they had had discussions with Blu-ray, MID and mobile makers about future possible applications for the software.

    "What we have built on the cloud doesn’t know whether it’s dealing with a TV or whatever," he said.

    "It just looks at the devices capability and the back-end makes available whatever it needs."

    There’s no doubt that content quality will be a key determing factor in the race to bring the Internet to the TV.

    But it also has to be content that is easy to access. ASM would appear to have that issue firmly in hand.

  • HD-Capable Device Shipments To Triple by 2012


    As HD becomes the global video standard shipments of high-definition set-top boxes (STBs), camcorders, DVD players and video-game consoles are expected to triple from 2008 to 2012, according to iSuppli.

    Shipments of HD-capable equipment in these categories will rise to 202 million units by 2012, up from 68.9 million in 2008.

    The researchers forecast that by 2012, 52.9 per cent of STBs, camcorders, DVD players and game consoles shipped will be HD-capable, up from 21.6 per cent in 2008.

    Randy Lawson, senior analyst for DTV and display electronics at iSuppli, said that for the last 20 years, HD video has been the holy grail for consumer electronics OEMs, as well as for avid home theater fans around the world.

    "The high-tech industry’s efforts to provide HD service to every home now are finally coming to fruition," he said.

    "This has resulted in an explosion of shipments of consumer-electronics devices that support HD video, from new Blu-ray DVD players to ultra-thin LCD HDTVs, and even some portable media players."

    This is reflected in a surge in the availability of HD content.

    In some mature television markets this has reached the stage where hundreds of high-definition channels now are being offered by the entire spectrum of television service providers – from cable, to satellite, to terrestrial and to even to telecom – due to the rollout of Internet protocol television (IPTV) services.

    iSuppli points to the rapidly growing list of HD content suppliers, along with the fast-rising adoption rates seen for HDTVs and STBs, as a clear indication that HD video transmission and delivery are becoming major motivators for consumer adoption of newer technology television displays and playback/recording equipment.

    Added to this is the fact that the broadcast TV market is rapidly shifting to all-digital television formats, further raising the incentive for the inclusion of HD support in consumer-electronics devices.