NewsBlog

Italy prepares for OTT rollout

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:44:24 +0000

At last week’s DVB World 2012 conference in Rome, Mediaset’s Marco Pellegrinato laid out the plans for Italy’s OTT services using the GEM standard:

Broadband TV news

DVB World Blog

Oracle & Mediaset present DVB-GEM OTT at JavaOne Conference

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:10:15 +0000

At this year’s JavaOne conference in San Francisco Oracle and Mediaset held a joint session

about DVB-GEM 1.3 in the Italian HBB deployment.

The presentation covered the new GEM OTT target of GEM 1.3 as well as the recent work

for a stereoscopic 3D profile. During the session they showed a demo of a hybrid

SetTop Box with a live OTT stream from Italy.

The JavaOne 2011 slides are available for download at:

https://oracleus.wingateweb.com/published/oracleus2011/sessions/23364/23364_Cho151620.At this year’s JavaOne conference in San Francisco Oracle and Mediaset held a joint session

At this year’s JavaOne conference in San Francisco Oracle and Mediaset held a joint session about DVB-GEM 1.3 in the Italian HBB deployment. The presentation covered the new GEM OTT target of GEM 1.3 as well as the recent work for a stereoscopic 3D profile. During the session they showed a demo of a hybrid SetTop Box with a live OTT stream from Italy.

The JavaOne 2011 slides are available for download here.

1 Million TivùSat Homes

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:04:02 +0000

Two years after its launch, the Italian free-to-air platform TivùSat has over one million homes connected. The platform runs on MHP.

TivùSat, backed by RAI, Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media, has precisely 1,037,061 active cards. Its Eutelsat Hot Bird delivered service offers 60 television channels and 38 radio stations. The most recent additions are Mediaset Extra and Mediaset Italia 2.

Although free-to-air, a decoder is still required, the signals being encrypted through Nagra conditional access. You can find more details on the set-top boxes on the TivuSat website.

Source: Broadband TV News

New Canal Digital Box to run MHP

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:01:58 +0000

Canal Digital is to introduce a new mid-market receiver in all four of its territories from September 1. The new ADB TRN 5720SX features a twin satellite tuner, IP connectivity, and the option of a USB DTT tuner to bring in terrestrial transmissions. It has been specially adapted for Canal Digital with the addition of iPad and iPhone connectivity.

Originally announced last December, it runs on a Linux-based open platform the box features the ADB Carbo ’3D’ interface and, perhaps surprisingly, MHP. Rafal Dulski, general manager, satellite business unit, ADB said there remained an interest in MHP. “It’s a mature solution and you can’t go wrong,” he said.

ADB has successfully implemented MHP in other markets, but its star is beginning to wane in favour of HbbTV. The Nordig organisation, which decides on which standards should be adopted in the Nordic countries, is said to be actively considering the hybrid technology.

The ADB launch comes ahead of Canal Digital’s previously announced plans for a TiVo product. Patrick Hofbauer, CEO & SVP Canal Digital AS, said the new addition remained a part of the satcaster’s plans and would be aimed at a higher market segment. “TiVo has a longer product timeline and is a much more advanced product, so ADB will come now and TiVo later.”

Canal Digital’s new receiver will include access to Canal Digital Go, the new on demand portal launched earlier this year, and which already has access to around 500 movies.

Source: Broadband TV News

Hello Blu-ray 3D World

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:14:40 +0000

Curious about how to write your own 3D Java applications for your home theater?

Learn how from this article, which explains Blu-ray 3D concepts and the BD-J platform. – By Michael Lagally

Imagine on your TV the big letters “Hello World” flashing in 3D. Well, there are certainly many more interesting applications you can imagine on a TV, but almost every programming experience starts with “Hello World.” This article gives you the concepts and the background information you need to create your first 3D Hello World application in Java.

DVB-GEM v1.3 Published

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:47:02 +0000

DVB has approved the latest version of its specification for interactivity – Globally Executable MHP (GEM). This new version of GEM v1.3 prepared by the ad-hoc group TM-MUG, chaired by Michael Lagally (Oracle), now provides support for Over-The-Top (OTT) television and Hybrid Broadcast/Broadband (HBB). This new version of the Java based GEM specification defines an OTT device category (target), which addresses media distribution over broadband networks without guaranteed bandwidth such as the Internet. The OTT target complements the existing GEM targets for Broadcast, Packaged Media and IPTV.

The OTT target offers new APIs to address particular OTT scenarios for content streaming and download and can be used for adaptive streaming deployments. For hybrid broadcast/broadband deployments GEM 1.3 offers API enhancements to synchronise media content over different networks. This feature can be used to offer, for example, additional subtitle languages or audio tracks for broadcast content.

Download DVB-GEM v1.3 here.

Full DVB Press Release

MHP Looking Good for Italian Connected TV

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:57:57 +0000

MHP, the DVB standard for interactive TV, provides everything needed to create Hybrid Broadcast Broadband (HBB) experiences as rich as those possible using Consumer Electronics or Web service connected TV platforms. That is the opinion of Angelo Pettazzi, Head of DTT Content Factory at Mediaset, the Italian broadcaster. “MHP is a fantastic tool and absolutely, you can match the experience from a company like Yahoo!” he told the Future TV Advertising Forum audience last month.

More: Videonet

Webcast on Java TV Software

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:27:36 +0000

December 16: Live Webcast: Java – the Industry Standard for the Future of TV Content

Source: The Java Source (Oracle)

You might not know this, but Java is running in more than 80 million television devices world-wide. Its running in every single Blu-ray player, in a large number of cable set-top boxes and is at the heart of many of the digital TV standards (Tru2way, Ginga-J, etc) that will be driving the next wave of digital, interactive content.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, Bill Sheppard, Oracle’s Chief Digital Media Officer for the Java Development Group will be hosting a live webcast on December 16th that will step you through many of the TV standards where Java is playing a key role and will also show you a demonstration of a futuristic Java-based user interface concept.

Who should attend:

1) OEMs interested in building IPTV devices with Java
2) Developers and ISVs looking to build content for the emerging TV applications market
3) Content providers interested in learning more about Blu-ray and related standards
4) Anyone interested in learning more about the future of digital TV content

When: December 16th 2010, 10:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (19:00 CET)

Vidiom Systems launches new GEM-IPTV solution

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:07:00 +0000

Vidiom Systems has recently unveiled a turnkey, open-standard solution that can expedite migration to IP video for cable system operators at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo.

Vidiom’s Open System Solution (VOSS™) is a pre-integrated platform built around the Vidiom Management Control Server, enabling operators to simply and cost-effectively create, install and maintain IP video solutions utilizing their existing cable or fiber infrastructures.

VOSS employs the open standard GEM-IPTV™ specification and the efficiencies of MPEG-4 to reclaim bandwidth and allows operators to deliver an expanded array of content and third-party applications – including gaming, navigation, information and social networking – to multiple devices in the home.

Source: www.lightreading.com

No plans for new DVB HBB standard, but door left open

MHP/GEM NewsBlog — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:59:55 +0000

The DVB is confident GEM-MHP remains the answer for the hybrid broadcast broadband (HBB) needs of its members despite the apparently growing strength of HbbTV in continental Europe and Canvas in the UK. Dr Peter Siebert, Executive Director at the DVB Project Office notes: “DVB has a hybrid solution and this is based on GEM-MHP and it is being deployed in Italy.” He hopes that the industry can unite around a common standard for HBB services but thinks this will be a challenge.

Siebert does not rule out the possibility that member interest could lead to new HBB standards work within the DVB but he made it clear: “There are no plans right now to develop a new standard. Of course there are always discussions within DVB about whether we should only have one solution. Up to now our members have been reluctant to have a second solution but that is a subject that is discussed.”

For more & source: VideoNet