Category: Software

NEW DELHI: BenQ, a major player in digital display market, has launched a new palm-sized GP1 mini-projector in India. The new product in PC-less, lamp-free and is based on LED technology and integrated USB video reader.

The tiny 640g projector is packed with advanced features to run all multimedia content. BenQ claims it has superb picture quality, sound, and convenience: 120 per cent NTSC, 100 ANSI lumens powered by digital LED lighting, Wall Color Correction, built-in 2W speaker, 20,000+ hours light life, iPod/iPhone dock (optional), instant On/Off, and tripod compatibility.
 
The projector comes for Rs 36,600.

Boasting anytime, anywhere projection, the GP1 projector is ideal for all users – on vacation, to sleepovers, to family functions, or just around the house – load movies or family photos/video onto a USB thumb drive and enjoy large-screen viewing in the hotel room or any room of the home. It displays bigger than any comparably priced TV and is much more versatile, portable, and easier to use.

Kids can connect to gaming consoles or DVD players. Traveling business professionals can keep corporate videos, jpeg-format presentations, and more on a USB thumb drive for spur-of-the-moment presentations in the lounge, at the coffeehouse, even in the smallest cubicle. 
 
The 15-80” image in 4:3 native format (16:9 selectable) is adjustable with digital zoom and preset picture PC and A/V modes. Auto play modes, auto keystone, auto search, and Wall Color Correction get content up and running fast, while the integrated speaker delivers instant digital sound.

Ample connectivity includes D-Sub, Composite, and USB inputs, and PC audio output. A detachable iPod/iPhone docking station is available as a clever option.
 

MUMBAI: GlobeCast and Netia will once again join forces at IBC, which is scheduled in September in Holland, to showcase the group’s integrated solutions across the whole broadcast chain with a shared demonstration of their latest Media Asset Management (Mam) solutions.

The Orange/France Telecom company, which recently opened fibre links to Africa and Latin America, will also be highlighting the geographical expansion of its global network, as well as the successful delivery of 2010 events, including several in 3D.
 
The demonstration will show broadcasters and content creators how to seamlessly integrate their traditional broadcast environment with the latest Mam software. The idea is to highlight GlobeCast’s ability to transport, manage and play content throughout the world, helping our clients to save time and money, and to easily send and share content with partners and platforms in multiple regions.

The new Netia software, which powers this solution, allows users to manage all of the processes within the production environment from editing to post and distribution through one interface.
 
All modules provide for ingest and quality control; metadata extraction and tagging; search, browse and low-res proxy generation; integration with key 3rd party systems including QA, tape/disk-based archive, non-linear editing, playout and traffic automation; and Multiplatform Delivery to Mobile TV, VoD/Catch Up TV, IPTV, Web Streaming, HD and SD distribution platforms.

NEW DELHI: iVdopia, the video and rich media mobile advertising network, has launched V5, the first HTML5 video platform with the ability to provide unified video ad experience across all devices and Smartphones, including the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or the Android.

Up until now, advertisers and agencies were required to develop multiple versions and formats of video ad campaigns in order to support viewership on Flash and non-Flash devices. With the V5 solution, iVdopia provides an easy to use platform that eliminates this process, empowering advertisers and agencies to deliver a single video ad experience that can be served across any device, regardless of it being supported by Flash or not.
 
A “create once, run anywhere” tool, the V5 enables advertisers to overcome the operating system restrictions within the fragmented mobile device market and deliver the most compelling form of video advertising to the rapidly growing number of users across Smartphones.

The V5 platform also enables media companies, content owners and distributors to deliver ad-supported video content across non-Flash devices like the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
 
“At iVdopia, we quickly gauged that media companies required monetisation strategies that pervaded through multiple platforms and utilised multiple ad formats in order to be successful. On the other hand, brand advertisers demanded real-time, interactive video experiences that were not limited by Flash plug-ins and that played singularly across multiple Smartphone devices,” said iVdopia COO Chhavi Upadhyay. “With the launch of V5, we have extended video advertising to every screen to take advantage of the rapidly growing audience numbers on non-Flash devices.”

Supporting multiple user engaging features for brand advertisers, the V5 platform will incorporate the HTML5 ad creation capabilities of the Future5 – iVdopia’s ad authoring tool – and launch innovative video ad units in partnership with leading advertisers and agencies.

Said iVdopia chief business officer Saurabh Bhatia, “We’re offering a suite of solutions for advertisers with the V5. Besides offering video as the most user-engaging ad unit to ever take over screens, the V5 is an OS agnostic solution – which is advantageous to advertisers who do not want to be restricted to just one OS for serving video ads. In addition, V5 powered ads are capable of all the unique video and audio effects found in HTML5, without relying on Flash.”

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has asked the broadcasters and multi-system operators to file additional affidavits within a month relating to a case on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India‘s (Trai) tariff proposal.

The apex court has also directed Trai to file its reply to the objections of the broadcasters within two weeks.

The matter came up for hearing today before a bench comprising Justice P Sathasivam and Justice BS Chauhan.

The court will now hear the objections by broadcasters and MSOs, opposing Trai‘s proposal for three pricing slabs of cable television with a maximum cap of Rs 250, later next month. 
 
The objections have been filed by broadcasters including Sony Group, Star India, Zee Turner, and some MSOs.

Earlier on 21 July, Trai had told the apex court in an affidavit that it planned to introduce three pricing slabs for cable television, with a maximum cap of Rs 250 to bring uniformity all over the country.

Trai had said it was considering limiting the monthly cable charge to Rs 100 per month for a minimum of 30 free-to-air channels. Subscribers opting for a basic package (which includes Doordarshan channels) with up to 20 pay channels will pay a monthly bill of Rs 200. But those taking a basic package with over 20 pay channels will have to pay Rs 250 per month.
 
Trai’s affidavit followed the apex court’s direction to formulate a comprehensive pricing mechanism for cable services in non-Cas areas after consulting various stakeholders.
The regulator said: “A retail price ceiling — at a reasonable level — that balances the consumers‘ interest with the growth potential of the industry is warranted in the case of cable TV services in non-Cas (conditional access system) markets. The Authority is of the view that the retail price cap for pay cable service should be fixed at Rs 250 per connection per month with the actual monthly bill being left to the business model of the individual operator — subject to the ceiling.”

While saying it was not in favour of allowing market forces to determine the rates of pay channels, Trai allowed broadcasters to raise the price of their channels and existing bouquets by nine per cent due to price inflation on the basis of the wholesale price index (WPI).

Upholding the orders of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat) the apex court had on 13 May, 2009, directed the regulator to study afresh and issue a comprehensive order on the pricing issue in non-Cas areas of the country.

Later the Court had granted six months extra time in January and directed it to file its report by 30 June 2010 following a request by Trai.

The regulator has also filed a draft copy of the proposed Broadcasting and Cable Services Tariff Order, 2010, which would be notified after the court clears it.
 

MUMBAI: The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) has announced details of the Casbaa Convention 2010 to be staged in Hong Kong from 25– 28 October.

Themed Unlock Your Networks, the four-day Casbaa Convention 2010 will gather operators, content providers, satellite services, technology, carriers and ad agencies together to further unlock the vast pay-TV potential across Asia.
 
Casbaa expects a thousand delegates to attend the convention. Several companies have committed their support to the event including Comcast, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, Disney Media Distribution, Globecast, HBO, MTV, Playboy TV, RRsat, Synovate, Tiger Gate, Turner, Universal Networks International and Warner TV, along with over 30 media partners and trade organisations.  
 
This year’s Convention presents a programme highlighting the critical issues shaping the Asian pay-TV industry. With digital media now centre stage, industry thought leaders from across the globe will discuss strategies for capitalising on the latest market opportunities for subscription television and advertising revenues in Asia.

Asia’s buoyant business environment has fostered increasing investment by countries keen to position themselves as the leading Asian media hub. Invited participants in a high-level discussion on the Media Hub championship include senior officials from India, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

With content consumption via traditional broadcast, mobile device, internet and 3D platforms blurring the lines between TV, video and a new viewer experience, the Convention 2010 programme presents a 360-degree review of the business synergies between carriers, advertising agencies, broadcasters and technology providers delivering current and next generation solutions in Asia.

Meanwhile, more than a billion Asian pay-TV viewers demand 24×7, global and local news content. In this compelling session, leading news providers will debate innovative strategies for further growing this big slice of the media pie.
 

MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommeded a four-phase digitisation process for cable TV networks in India while setting a sunset date of 31 December 2013 for complete switchover to digital cable.

The first phase shift from analogue to digital cable in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai should be complete by 31 March 2011.

Currently, the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are partially under Cas (conditional access system). Chennai, however, totally falls under Cas.

In the second phase, to be completed by 31 December 2011, the implementation will be in all the cities having population of over one million. 
 
The third phase will cover all other urban areas (municipal corporations/municipalities) across the country by 31 December 2012.

The final phase will see the complete shift to digital addressable system in the rest of India, for which Trai has set 31 December 2013 as the cut-off date.

Trai said digital addressable systems will enable consumers to watch high quality digital TV channels of their choice on a-la-carte basis and also have the capacity to carry more channels.
 
“In fact, the capacity crunch and the non-addressable nature of analogue cable TV systems is coming in the way of orderly growth of the cable TV sector in India,” Trai said.

Trai has also recommended incentives to stakeholders to boost the process.

The sector regulator has proposed to give an income tax holiday to all service providers who have set up a digital addressable distribution network before the sunset date (s). This tax holiday is proposed from 1 April 2011 (or the date of setting up of the network whichever is later) to 31 March 2019.

It has proposed cutting basic custom duty on all digital headend-end equipment and set-top boxes (STBs) to zero for the next three years.

Trai has also said Multi-system-operators (MSOs)/ Local Cable Operators (LCOs) should be given the Right of Way (RoW) permission to lay optical fibre/cable, on non-exclusive basis and MSOs/LCOs to be licensed.

It urged for rationalization of taxes levied on the broadcasting distribution sector.

In its recommendations, Trai also stressed on the need of educating the stakeholders about the benefits of digital addressable cable TV systems.

The equipments, devices and accessories used by the cable TV service providers should be compliant to relevant BIS standards.

The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Act 2002 will have to be suitably amended for implementing the sunset date for Analogue Cable TV services.

The Authority recommends that the licensing provisions made in the – “Recommendations on Restructuring of Cable TV Services” dated 25 July 2008 should be implemented for LCOs and MSOs.

The industry has experienced rapid growth since it started in the early 90s, with the number of subscribers increasing from just 410,000 in 1992 to more than 91 million by the end of 2009 – a growth rate of nearly 40 per cent every year for the last 17 years. This expansion of subscriber base is mirrored by commensurate growth on the supply side.

India today has a large broadcasting and distribution sector, comprising around 550 television channels, 6,000 Multi System Operators (MSOs), up to 60,000 LCOs, sevem DTH/ satellite TV operators and several IPTV service providers, Trai said.

Will the Government accept Trai‘s recommendations?

The government has taken its own time to accept the Trai reccomendations in the past. Digitisation is also a politically sensitive issue and the government has earlier developed cold feet in extending the Cas to other pockets of the three metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

So will the Trai recommendations get the government nod this time?

A senior Information and Broadcasting Ministry official told indiantelevision.com that the Trai report was only by way of a recommendation and, therefore, it was not possible to react to it without studying all its implications.

He said the Ministry would react in due course after studying all aspects including the sunset date of March 2013.

He said the I&B Ministry could react to the recommendations relating to tax matters only after consulting the Finance Ministry.

MSOs welcome Trai‘s recommendations

While the multi-system operators have welcomed the move, they have expressed doubt about the feasibility of completing the switchover from analogue to cable by 31 December 2013.

“It is an ambitious target but, at least, some movement is happening. Hope the government accepts the recommendations. The first phase is feasible. There are around 8 million homes and if we are to take a 60 per cent digital penetration, the MSOs should be able to do it by 31 March 2011,” says Digicable MD and CEO Jagjit Kohli.

You Telecom CEO EVS Chakravarthy believes it is a revoultionary recommendation. “Cable companies will be able to raise capital in the new revenue model environment,” he says.

MUMBAI: Conax, the content security solutions provider, will be launching its new conditional access platform, Conax Contego, at IBC Exp in Amsterdam.

The company said that Conax Contego total solution will further strengthen the company’s commitment to excellence in providing pay-TV operations with superior quality, open standards, content security solutions combined with the freedom of choice for security-evaluated consumer devices and pricing models.
 
On 10 September, the company will announce the details of the Conax Contego platform during IBC Expo. It said that previews of the new platform will be available throughout IBC. 
 
“This year at IBC, Conax will launch a completely new security platform – content protection is being transported to a truly new dimension,” said Conax EVP Products and Markets Geir Bjorndal. “Conax will demonstrate that it has again developed advanced technology that transforms the future of securing pay-content operations to the present.”
 

MUMBAI: Zapak.com, the online gaming portal from Reliance ADAG, is entering into the social gaming arena with with a new Zapak Social channel on its website.

The company has partnered with 6waves, the international publisher and developer of gaming applications on the Facebook platform.
 
Zapak will be the marketing and payment partner for 6waves’ games in India and will bring all its games to the Indian users including global hits like Mall World. All the games will be promoted on Zapak’s social channel.

Currently the payment gateways available for 6waves games only allow users to use international credit cards for transactions. Zapak will integrate all local payment options like credit cards, netbanking and Zapak pins to facilitate item purchases for their games to Indian users.

6waves publishes over 20 games on Facebook and has 10 million users worldwide. 
 
Zapak Digital Entertainment CEO Rohit Sharma said, “This association marks Zapak’s foray into mainstream social gaming post the launch of Zapak application on Facebook. Many of our users visit Facebook frequently and this association with 6waves will offer them with an array of new entertaining and engaging games. We aim to bring world’s best social game content for Indian users like we did on Zapak.com.”

“International markets have always been a prime focus for 6waves. Working with Zapak, we aim to bring the best social gaming experience to our Indian users!” 6waves CEO Rex Ng added.
 

MUMBAI: Iskcon (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) is going digital by launching a separate channel for mobile TV.

Iskcon has partnered with mobile TV leader Apalya Technologies and content and software infrastructure company Neuron Mediatech for this purpose.
  
Neuron Mediatech co-founder Irfan Khan said, “We have designed rich media spiritual content based on multimedia device experience and have produced the same in multiple languages like English, Hindi, Gujarati and Sindhi. We are producing 3-5 minutes discourses for masses and will be taking these On-Demand discourses to users all over the world using digital platforms. This ‘On-demand’ offering is custom made using very pertinent topics and questions that one seeks answers to.”

Apalya Technologies CEO and co-founder Vamshi Krishna Reddy added, “It gives us great pleasure to be able to relay Iskcon discourses to the devotees who can view it on their mobile screens. We are glad that a religious institution as revered as Iskcon chose us to be their choice for Mobile TV. Initially, this service will be on-demand, however, given its viewership pattern it can be provided as part of the standard package from Apalya, further on.”
 
Iskcon spokesperson Haridas Prabhuji said, “This is another step towards invoking the Lord through technology and reaching out to all the Krishna devotees spread across the globe to have a free flow access to their God, no matter where they are at anytime, on your mobile screens. Iskcon will now reach you On-Demand for we know that not everyone can come to our temples everyday but with this tie-up the temple will come to you.”

Neuron Mediatech would be deploying their spiritual content offerings across other platforms, including Internet. They are also planning to launch a dedicated IVR for spiritual content.

MUMBAI: Verizon Communications Inc. and Google Inc. have struck an accord on handling internet traffic. The compromise would restrict Verizon from selectively slowing internet content that travels over its wires, but wouldn’t apply such limits to internet use on mobile phones.

Verizon and Google have been adversaries over the issue, known as ‘net neutrality’. The former was among cable and phone companies that said that they need scope over the delivery of web content to protect performance of their networks.
 
Google led content providers and advocacy groups that say restrictions are needed so that communication companies don’t favour their own online offerings or those of its partners.

The two companies have become business allies through Verizon Wireless, the largest US wireless carrier that is co-owned by Verizon. Mobile phones that use software from Google helped Verizon’s profit this year. 
 
New York-based Verizon’s earnings beat estimates last month after its wireless unit introduced phones running on Google’s Android software that include Droids from Motorola Inc. and HTC Corp. to compete against AT&T’s iPhone from Apple.

Executives of Google Inc., AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. met Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials last weekend.