ITV

Tag: Chipsets

  • 4K UHD content protection: Irdeto’s solution completes Cartesian review

    4K UHD content protection: Irdeto’s solution completes Cartesian review

    MUMBAI: Irdeto, a leader in digital platform security, has announced that its Cloaked CA solution has completed a review by Cartesian against the usage rules for 4K UHD premium content included in the Farncombe Security Audit.

    The audit focuses on content security requirements, aligned with MovieLabs’ Enhanced Content Protection (ECP) requirements and industry best practices. The Farncombe Security Audit is recognized by studios and sports right holders worldwide as a measure of a solution’s suitability to protect premium content.

    Irdeto Cloaked CA is anchored by a secure chipset and complemented with Irdeto’s software obfuscation and whitebox cryptography. Together, these features provide a secure, diversified and easily renewable CA solution. It is a key solution offered in the Irdeto 360 Security suite, which is designed to ensure future-proof end-to-end security that can quickly and easily react to changes in the market in a cost-effective fashion. The Farncombe Security Audit covers solution areas including end-to-end system design, messaging security and client content path security.

    “For pay media operators and content rights holders, premium content such as live sports, early release movies and other 4K UHD content is a substantial and precious investment which needs the best possible protection,” said Irdeto SVP – content protection Andrew Bunten.

    “Premium security today means 360-degree protection trusted by content owners, everything from protecting broadcast and OTT services to end-to-end piracy control. By completing the Cartesian review of the Irdeto Cloaked CA, we are demonstrating our commitment to robust security,” Bunten said.

    Cartesian, an independent consultancy company for the communications and digital media industries, has been carrying out security reviews for over 15 years. The Farncombe Security Audit™ Mark was launched in 2016 to provide a publicly recognizable indication that a security audit has taken place, and that a report is available from the solution vendor.

  • Ali Corporation aims to sell 20 million chipsets by December 2016

    Ali Corporation aims to sell 20 million chipsets by December 2016

    KOLKATA: Taiwan-headquartered Ali Corporation, a set top box (STB) solution provider, is looking at an order size of between 15 to 20 million chipsets by the end of December 2016.

     

    “India is a big market and we are looking at it keenly. Compared to other countries, it is different because branding which is important here. Our focus is to build around the brand and the technology in India. In phase III and IV of digitisation, we are eyeing between 15 million and 20 million chipsets,” Ali Corporation country manager Shivani Pratap Singh exclusively told indiantelevision.com.

     

    Singh was extremely gung-ho about the potential in India as the country’s television ecosystem digitises fully by December 2016.

     

    With India’s transition from analogue to digital service, many consumers need new, full-featured set-top boxes (STBs) for home viewing. This represents a major opportunity for regional operators and STB manufacturers, as only a portion of the roughly 100 million STBs in consumers’ homes have already been digitised according to published government figures.

     

    Adding to the STB growth is the trend of consumers placing more than one TV in their homes, as well upgrading from standard definition to high definition.

     

    The government had previously set a target of digitising the cable TV services in the entire country by December 2014. However Information and Broadcasting Ministry recently issued a notification as per which the deadline for the areas which came in phase III was extended from 30 September 2014 to 31 December 2015 and phase IV for December 2016 as was also first broken by indiantelevision.com.

     

    “By December 2014, we were looking at 5 million chipsets. Due to the delay in digitisation, the clients also delayed it,” he said. If an order of 2 lakh had been placed, clients have picked up nearly 10000 to 20000 chipsets and left the remaining for later.

     

    Demand had grown down due to digitisation delay but Singh says that it is always balanced by the international market demand.

     

    The company supplies chipsets to most of the big players in the industry.

     

    “We at Ali, have our own system in place; our chip sets are reliable, cost effective and when the technology is upgraded, we keep on updating ourselves,” concluded Singh.

  • Fastway to deploy HD STBs with STMicroelectronics’ cable chipsets

    Fastway to deploy HD STBs with STMicroelectronics’ cable chipsets

    MUMBAI: Fastway Digital TV Services, the multi system operator (MSO) operating mostly in Punjab has teamed up with STMicroelectronics for its HD interactive USB DVR set top boxes. They will have STiH273 HD cable chipsets.

     

    This will enable Fastway deliver high quality HD content and access to several value added services including banner advertisements, interactive TV shopping and education services. It will also provide customers a better viewing experience with HD video and interactivity with advantages such as high integration, low power consumption and unmatched coordinated performance of CPU, video decoder and image quality processor.

     

    Key features of the STiH273 chipsets include 1300DMIPs application CPU; integrated 256kB L2 cache increasing CPU performance for rich applications such as HTML5 browser, user interfaces, HD picture-in-picture and PVR; integrated digital video broadcast (DVB-C) demodulator, optimised to work with high-performance external tuners to meet stringent RF performance requirements of Indian cable networks; 16-bit DDR3 SDRAM support, integrated ePhy, no heat-sink for significant bill-of-material saving; Faroudja image quality processing; high quality and robust 1080p AVC (advanced video coding) video decoder with advanced error correction and concealment capabilities; integrated standby controller offering 0.5W standby power consumption with super-fast resume time; and best-in-class advanced security for all major conditional access systems (CAS).

     

    Fastway Digital TV Services managing director Gurdeep Singh said, “Our new HD digital set top boxes benefit from STMicroelectronics’ feature-packed and flexible system-on-chip ICs, enabling an ideal platform to deliver innovative value-added services such as interactive education services, multi-genre digital music service, restaurants and events search guide and games to customers. With strong local support and cooperation from ST, we are well placed to drive digital migration and bring high quality TV solutions to our customers.”

     

    Fastway Digital TV Services CEO Peeush Mahajan added, “STiH273 is clearly the right choice for our latest generation of STBs. ST has helped us create a customised solution optimised for India that helps us enhance customer satisfaction and sustain our leadership edge in our areas of operation.”

     

    STMicroelectronics vice president Greater China and South Asia region and India Design Center director Vivek Sharma said, “We are proud to be part of Fastway’s digital set-top box roll-out that aims to deliver an enhanced viewing experience to millions of homes around India. Fastway’s selection of ST’s set-top box technology underlines our strengths and commitment to supporting the growth of the Indian digital TV market through cooperation with local key players.”

     

    The chipsets are manufactured using 40nm process technology and support an enhanced processing engine with integrated on-chip features that simplify STB design, along with the possibility of a two layer PC board design. It also allows STB manufacturers to use lower-cost memory and minimise system power consumption, optimising total cost of ownership.

  • DTV, IPTV growth to boost Set-Top Box, Chipsets & Flat Panel industries

    DTV, IPTV growth to boost Set-Top Box, Chipsets & Flat Panel industries

    MUMBAI: The anticipated growth of digital television (DTV) and high-definition television (HDTV) is expected to positively influence the development of a range of support industries. These include those of flat panel displays, broadcasting, telecommunications, chipset design and production, set-top box manufacturing, and software or middleware development, according to a Frost & Sullivan – Technical Insights study.

    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).

    “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,” notes technical insights (www.technicalinsights.frost.com) research analyst Dr. Jayson Koh.

    “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.”

    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.

    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 study notes.

    “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,” says Koh. “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.”

    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.

    Global Advances in Digital TV and HDTV Chipsets, a part of the Electronics Device Subscription, provides informative insights on the progress and development of flat panel display, chipsets, compression and broadband television technologies. In this research service, Frost & Sullivan’s analysts thoroughly examine the following technologies: flat panel display, set-top box and its chipsets, compression coding and broadband television technologies. Analyst interviews are available to the press.

    Technical Insights is an international technology analysis business that produces a variety of technical news alerts, newsletters, and research services. Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years.