Category: Software

MUMBAI: Ericsson has unveiled an end-to-end IPTV solution, which will make possible a complete range of IPTV services, such as broadcast TV, video on-demand, network personal video recording and electronic programming guides.

According to an official release, Ericsson‘s solution provides telecom-grade performance, meets scalability requirements and involves complete life-cycle management. It also includes guidelines for integration with IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) functions, such as charging and end-user authentication, which is unique on the market. It combines its portfolio with key products from world-leading partners.

Ericsson Multimedia Solutions VP Claes Ödman says, “IPTV is much more than traditional TV broadcast over the IP network – it is about integrating media with communications services to deliver personalized, interactive television no matter where the viewer is.”

The end-to-end solution is the first step in Ericsson‘s long-term evolution of TV services.

“Based on our broadband experience, our standardization efforts and our global IMS leadership, Ericsson has a long-term vision for TV and a migration path to help operators meet the challenge,” Ödman says.

Ericsson‘s vision of personalized IPTV services delivered over broadband is based on open standards, including the combination of Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) technologies, for digital entertainment, with the IMS standard for delivering enriched communications services. Ericsson is committed to working with appropriate standardization bodies to achieve economies of scale and inter¬operability in IPTV reference architecture and interfaces, the release adds.

MUMBAI: Broadbus Technologies, Inc., provider of technology solutions for television on demand (TOD), and NDS, provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV has come together to announce that the later has selected the Broadbus B-1 video server as the first on-demand video platform for the NDS synamedia metro IPTV middleware.

Synamedia Metro is an integrated IPTV middleware solution that enables telecommunications providers and broadband operators to quickly and easily offer the power of IPTV to their subscribers.

The NDS solution will incorporate the Broadbus B-1 Video Server, a 100 per cent solid-state, carrier-class solution for the delivery of IPTV and on-demand video services.

“NDS developed synamedia metro to offer telecommunications providers a turnkey IPTV solution, including security, middleware and electronic program guide functions, that enables next generation experiences today,” said NDS Broadband Internet Group VP Nigel Smith. “NDS believe that Broadbus‘ open design, scalability and reliability are a good fit for telco customers.”

According to an official release, Synamedia Metro IPTV middleware allows IPTV operators to offer attractive Electronic Program Guides (EPG), interactive TV applications (iTV), Video on Demand (VOD), digital video recorder (DVR) or network DVR capabilities and interactive games, in either standard (SD) or high definition (HD), all of which are built using the NDS MediaHighway middleware application development tools (MHDK).

The solution also protects premium content and revenue streams through NDS VideoGuard, the most widely deployed, robust and secure encryption technology for content protection, revenue protection and rights management.

“We‘re very excited to be leveraging our extensive on-demand video experience to deliver a powerful IPTV offering with NDS,” said Broadbus Sr. director of marketing Tom Kennedy.

“By combining Broadbus‘ carrier-class architecture with NDS‘s market-leading middleware and security, service providers get a rock-solid foundation on which to build a reliable and scalable IPTV infrastructure.”

The release also adds that the Broadbus B-1 Video Server is the only 100 per cent solid-state, carrier-class solution for the delivery of on-demand video services. The platform‘s compact, switch-based architecture completely eliminates the use of mechanical hard drives for video streaming and ingest, instead leveraging the intelligent management of massive amounts of random-access memory. The result is unparalleled performance, reliability, scalability for VOD and advanced on-demand services at less than one-tenth the footprint and one-eighth the power requirements of traditional systems.

By integrating the Broadbus B-1 Video Server into a single solution, the NDS Synamedia Metro architecture enables telco operators to deploy a single integrated IPTV system and reduce the time-to-market for new services. The solution is also standards-based, allowing telcos to choose their system components according to their current infrastructure needs.

NEW DELHI: Broadcast regulator has now turned its scanner on various aspects of a DTH service, including supply of personal video recorders or digital video recorders and rollout of multi-dwelling unit technology by DTH service providers.

In a consultation paper issued today on DTH, the regulator said the need to discuss these issues, amongst others, arises from the “communications of the ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B).”

The issues raised by the government are essentially the following:

1. Amendment of the license conditions to exclude personal video recorder / digital video recorder from the requirement of interoperability.
   
2. The platform services that enable the subscribers to utilize the platform efficiently and inform them of platform functionality and services are exempted or otherwise from the uplink licensing requirement.
   
3. The use of multiple dwelling unit (MDU) technology.

Trai has said issues that issues like amendment of clauses 7.1 and 7.2 of the DTH license relating to digital video recorders and MDU tech would be discussed with the industry.

The points that need to be ironed out are the following:

1. If digital video recorders are exempt from requirement of interoperability (amongst various services), the safeguards that should be provided to ensure that consumers can switch from one service provider to the other.
   
2. If not whether any safeguards are required to ensure that consumers are fully aware of the limited interoperability of digital video recorders.
   
3. Whether the guidelines for uplinking from India should be amended to specifically exclude platform services made available for enabling the subscribers to utilize the platform efficiently and inform them of platform functionality.
   
4. Whether the use of MDU technology by a DTH licensee is in conformity with the licensing conditions.
   
5. If not, what is the specific clause of the license conditions that is being violated.
   
6. Should the license conditions be modified either to specifically permit this technology or to prohibit this technology.

While existing DTH platform Dish TV is in the process of distributing digital video recorders (cost: approximately Rs 16,000) to its subscribers to store programmes and films to viewed at leisure, Tata Sky’s proposed service is aggressively pushing MDU tech in high-rise residential colonies and buildings in Mumbai.

The MDU tech, which can render cable ops almost jobless, has invited the ire of cable operators in Mumbai who have been lobbying against its rollout.

The full text of the consultation paper is available on TRAI’s website (www.trai.gov.in). The last date for sending comments is 26 June, 2006.

MUMBAI: The anticipated growth of digital television (DTV) and high-definition television (HDTV) globally is expected to positively influence the development of a range of support industries.

A study by Frost and Sullivan Global Advances in Digital TV and HDTV Chipsets notes that these support industries include those of flat panel displays, broadcasting, telecommunications, chipset design and production, set-top box manufacturing, and software or middleware development.

The flat panel display industry, in particular, has recorded huge revenue growth since the launch of DTV and HDTV services. Moreover, emerging display technologies such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) and field emission displays (FED) are being seen as a challenge to the market dominance of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and with the recent advances in manufacturing techniques, the future for both OLED and FED look promising.

With regard to the set-top box (STB) technology, new STB chipsets are steered toward the direction of providing a single-chip solution. The introduction of advanced compression standards such as Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG)-4 AVC has highly enhanced the video streaming capability of the high-end STBs, and future STBs will have more programmability and advanced functions such as a personal digital recorder. Future chipset designs are likely to focus on the convergence of TV and computer networks and the concept of a multimedia home platform (MHP).

Technical Insights research analyst Dr. Jayson Koh notes, “Determined to lead the broadcast technologies, the Information Society Technologies (IST) and European Union (EU) have been funding numerous projects in the field of digital and high-definition television, driving the European companies and universities in this area.

“While countries such as Greece are laying infrastructures for the digital switch over, terrestrial DTV services are already well developed in Germany and France, and Britain has also recently introduced many DTV and IPTV services.”

The report further notes that in Asia, South Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese companies are leading the flat panel display industries, catering to the increasing demands for LCD
and plasma discharge panel (PDP) TV from Europe, North America and notably, China. Also there have been a significant number of IPTV and DTV deployments in Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore and South Korea.

The Challenges: Amidst these positive trends, the high entry barrier and the lack of cost- effective techniques for mass production are the most critical issues that the new companies and technologies in the flat panel display industry
face. Other obstacles that add to the entry barrier include, competing with the low average selling price of LCD, high cost of investment, lack of customer awareness, availability of raw materials and components suppliers and the distribution networks.

“The prolonged format war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is expected to delay the integration of new DVD standard in high-end STBs and manufacturers would prefer to wait till a common format arises.

“In the case of new video compression standard, the H.264 would slowly take over the MPEG-2 market but face competition from both AVS and VC-1,” adds Koh.

In the near term, STB manufacturers have to decide whether to support a certain new generation DVD format or to provide a multiple format drive. Although chipset companies are providing more multiple video compression supports in their products, the high licensing fee arises from this kind of chipsets may not be encouraging.

MUMBAI: Xinhua China Ltd. has acquired leading Chinese high definition television text-editing software company Bear Technology. The acquisition expands Xinhua‘s presence in the rapidly expanding digital media industry in China.

Founded in 2002, Bear Technology offers multiple proprietary solutions for rendering and editing text in high definition (HD). Bear text-editing software is an essential component in the production of HDTV content, which require on-screen text to be rendered in HD for enhanced visual fidelity, according to Xinhua China.

Some applications for Bear‘s software include personal and commercial HD cameras, televised language translation, closed-captioning, and news and entertainment programming. Currently, Bear Technology customers include leading HDTV and camera manufacturers such as Sony and Panasonic, Xinhua China said.

The company stated that although China‘s digital television market is relatively small by North American standards, the annual compounded growth rate of digital television subscribers is estimated to grow at 165 per cent per year from 2005 to 2008. With 5.3 million home subscribers in 2005, up from one million in 2004, digital TV in China is enjoying exponential growth.

“HDTV software is a complementary technology to our initiatives to expand our business base through the sale of digital media online in China. We are fortunate to have had this opportunity at a time when HDTV is rapidly overtaking older television technology. We believe HDTV has the potential to further enhance the online experience for enjoyment of all types of online media in China,” said Xinhua China CEO Xianping Wang.

“The acquisition of Bear Technology will position Xinhua China as a leading provider of HD content text editing. We see significant revenue opportunities over the long-term as the convergence of the personal computer and High Definition Digital Television gathers momentum,” he added.

In addition, upon completion of the purchase of all the issued capital in Bear Technology, the company agrees to grant in aggregate six million stock options to employees, officers and directors of Bear Technology. The options will be priced at the time of issue.

MUMBAI: BroadcastAsia2006, organised by Singapore Exhibition Services (SES), is on its way to another run at the Singapore Expo from 19 to 23 June 2006.

Titled “Digital: The Journey Forward,” the new theme embodies BroadcastAsia‘s positioning to embrace the digital revolution and constantly ‘go forward‘ by staying relevant to the industry, while its subtitle, “The 11th International Digital Multimedia and Entertainment Technology Exhibition and & Conference,” has also been updated to reflect the show‘s progress.

“With the entire integrated workflow process addressed at BroadcastAsia, every technological solution in the entire value chain can be seen on the show floor,” said Singapore Exhibition Services project director Jackson Yeoh.

To date, top names in the industry that have signed up include Tandberg Television, Harris Corporation, Snell & Wilcox, Co-ship, Nokia, Panasonic, Thomson, Scopus Network Technologies, DVB – Digital Video Broadcasting, Barco, Quantel, Qualcomm and Conax. SES expects more industry players to come on board, what with the positive outlook in the global entertainment and multimedia industry.

This year‘s show will include a strong presence by exhibitors featuring the latest in internet protocol television (IPTV), broadcasting to handhelds, video on demand, personal video recording, digital audio broadcasting (DAB), computer graphics and animation, conditional access control, and high-definition (HD) technology.

Held as part of BroadcastAsia2006, ComGraphics&Animation 2006 will feature the latest hardware, software and services designed especially for the computer graphics and animation industry, film and motion picture industry, as well as for major broadcasters in Asia and beyond.

In addition, the ComGraph Digital Art & Animation competition, organised by SigGraph Singapore Chapter will be held once again in conjunction with the CGA Exhibition to give recognition to creators of exceptional works of digital art and animation.

An awards ceremony and winners announcement will be held on the first day of the show, and winning works for the Computer Animation categories, as well as outstanding works from award-winning animators will be screened during all four days of the exhibition. To date, a total of 280 entries have been received from both local and overseas competitors. There will also be a Digital Art Showcase where all the digital art entries will be displayed.

With the convergence of technologies (ICT, Telco and Media), the media landscape worldwide is experiencing significant changes. New ways of consuming media through the use of technologies – IPTV, Interactive TV, VOD, podcasting and such, are now available to the industry and consumers. These new trends will be discussed in the New Media Conference, jointly presented by Singapore Media Academy (a MediaCorp company) and SES.

Also held concurrently is the RadioAsia2006 conference, an annual conference that presents in-depth perspectives from industry leaders as well as public service and community broadcasters in order to gauge the future evolution of the medium in a context marked by the explosion of digital technologies and convergence. This year, RadioAsia2006 will commemorate 100 years of Radio, with a special session that looks at the triumphs and tribulations of radio over the last 100 years.

Highlights includes a half-day of workshops conducted by two of the most reputed radio training institutions in the world including the Deutsche Welle – Akademie / Radio Training Centre from Germany and the Radio Netherlands Training Centre. It will be followed by a three-day conference where leading radio experts will be delivering papers and presentations.

Nine group pavilions from countries such as China, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Spain, Singapore, the UK and the USA are also expected at the show.

The Italians are returning to BroadcastAsia in a big way. Having participated in the show in 2001 and 2004, the size of the Italian pavilion at BroadcastAsia2006 has increased by over 80 per cent, while Korea and France have also increased their booth space by more than 100 per cent this year.

Complementing the BroadcastAsia2006 exhibition will be a series of enriching and in-depth conference presentations and demonstrations, panel discussions and master classes.

The BroadcastAsia2006 International Conference will take place from the 19 to 22 June and will present a range of topics that extend across the key issues facing the broadcasting industry today.

“The comprehensiveness and relevance of this year‘s conference lineup has also taken the event to new heights. With high caliber speakers with extensive knowledge and experience, delegates will gain an invaluable amount of knowledge and insight when they attend the conference, and it should therefore not be missed,” added Yeoh.

The lineup of conference tracks include:

• High Definition (covering HDTV technology)
  
• IPTV
  
• Broadcasting to Handhelds
  
• Digital Audio Broadcasting
  
• Interactive TV session
  
• Asian D-Cinema Summit (with a keynote address by 20th Century Fox)
  
• Capacity Building of Broadcast Sector
  
• Production (covering production issues and technology updates)
  
• Content Delivery
  
• Protecting Broadcast Content
  
• Satellite Interference Issues in the Broadcast Industry
  
• Testing and Measurement
  
• Two industry dialogues: Developments of contents in / for Asian markets and content and outsourcing.

Highlights at this year‘s International Conference include a keynote sessions by industry leaders, including keynote speaker The Interactive Channel Co. Ltd, Hong Kong chairman Robert Chua.

Chua will be delivering his presentation at the Interactive TV session, and is co-presented by SES, with the Association of the French interactive television developers, publishers and service providers (AFDESI) and the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD).

Other industry speakers include: Orca Interactive, Israel vice president marketing and business development Yosi Glick; GDC, Singapore CEO Dr. Chong Man-Name; MediaCorp Technologies Pte Ltd, Singapore CEO Mock Pak Lum; Pioneer Corporation, Japan senior managing director Osamu Yamada; Australian Communications and Media Authority, Australia manager allocations administration Greg Cupitt and Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies, USA vice president of engineering and market development Rob Chandok.

BroadcastAsia International Conference director Martin Salter said, “I am very excited with the line-up of topics that address the hot issues facing the fast changing dynamics of the electronic media industry, from the large screen experience of D-Cinema, through the opportunities of IPTV, and to the new challenges of content creation and delivery to mobile devices. Yet current issues like the digital transition are not ignored. Presentations will be delivered by eminent speakers from a broad international base. These key sessions are augmented by specialised sessions from renowned organizations from around the world.”

Held concurrently with BroadcastAsia are a series of seminars and conferences specifically designed to provide insight into new business opportunities and digital technology that are the drivers of the transformation of how we live, entertain and interact.

The Animation and Visual Effects Seminar is a showcase of the latest projects from the worlds leading production companies and education providers. Specifically, this seminar is intended for all digital artists, producers and management involved in the entertainment industry to learn from the world‘s best.

Delegates can rub shoulders with the makers of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and King Kong as animation experts from Academy Award winning studios Weta (known for their work on Lord of the Rings) and Rhythm and Hues (Babe, The Cat in the Hat, Garfield) descend upon the Singapore Expo to share technical advice and knowledge with participants.

Highlights include Rhythm and Hues technical supervisor Bill Westenhofer at will be addressing the seminar on how technologies and techniques have evolved in computer graphics and special effects. Westenhofer is the visual supervisor leading the Rhythm and Hues team on The Chronicles of Narnia. His other credits include Stuart Little, Men in Black 2 and Elf.

Also speaking is Shawn Dunn from New Zealand based animation studio, Weta. Dunn‘s was the animation technical supervisor on King Kong. He has also worked on Hollywood blockbuster, I, Robot, starring Will Smith. Dunn will be providing a global update on the animation industry at the seminar.

Delegates at the Asian D-Cinema Summit can expect to be updated on regional and technological developments from industry leaders such as MediaCorp Technologies CEO Mok Pak Lum and GDC Singapore CEO Dr. Chong – Man Nang.

This year‘s International Conference also promises to be even more interactive. Aside from the usual presentations, more discussions and panel sessions have been planned. Two industry dialogues have been lined up, with a focus on content development and delivery.

Said Yeoh, “It is our desire to provide delegates with the maximum amount of opportunity for ideas exchange, learning, and networking. The conference aims to do just that – increase the level of information sharing, encourage more interaction, and provide them with insights that can be applied in their own areas of work, long after the conference ends.”

BroadcastAsia 2006 is held in conjunction with CommunicAsia2006 and EnterpriseIT2006.