Web Based EPG
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2001:024 MASTER'S THESIS Web Based EPG Stefan Johansson Civilingenjörsprogrammet Datateknik Institutionen för Systemteknik Avdelningen för Programvaruteknik 2001:024 • ISSN: 1402-1617 • ISRN: LTU-EX--01/024--SE Preface This master thesis was begun during the summer of 1999 and was performed at Telia Research in Nynäshamn, however the major part of the people involved in the project that this master thesis area is a part of, are placed at Telia Research in Farsta. Since this work is just one of many aspects in that project, I hope that my conclusions can participate in the decision for choosing the development platform and also in the creation of the electronic program guide. I would like to thank both Niclas Klack and Magnus Nilsson who where my supervisors at Telia Research. I had Magnus during the first two month of my master thesis and Niclas during the rest of the time. From them I got valuable feedback and support during my work. I also would like to thank my examiner, Roland Parviainen at Luleå University of Technology, for shown interest and support. Abstract As the number of available channels is increasing, new ways to help users find programs they want to se has developed. Instead of using a paper based TV-guide or the teletext, users can use an electronic program guide to find the shows they are interested in. The Swedish existing web based EPG (Electronic program guide) that where found, are all very similarly regarding both interface and functions, and the overall function is the one that shows what is on all the channels, right this second. The channel information for these channels can be found in several companies, but the most interesting is TVData, Infomedia and Avisa. To connect the database containing the channel information with the server holding the EPG, a database driver is required. The most suitable for this among the JDBC drivers, are the Native-API partly-Java driver and for ODBC, the Two-tier-architecture. Before constructing an EPG, a decision regarding which platform to chose, needs to be made. The evaluated platforms are the web based, OpenTV and MediaHighway. When comparing web based EPG with EPGs from OpenTV and MediaHighway. There are more advantages for using web based tools when creating an EPG, like no licence and that the developing language is well known. But OpenTV and MediaHighway are better prepared against a large increase of users. Since they broadcast there contents all the time. New products that already contain an EPG, are products like TiVo and ReplayTV. These products can be seen as the future VCR as they have several interesting functions and store all the movies on an internal hard disk. Since the products from TiVo and ReplayTV have very similarly functions and price. It will in my opinion be how user-friendly their interfaces for their different functions are, that will separate these two. These products that can be seen as local-on-demand also have more advantages compared with server based video-on-demand. Sammanfattning Allt eftersom de antal kanaler som blir tillgängliga för hushållen ökar hela tiden. Kommer behovet av ett hjälpmedel för att hitta de önskade programmen att behövas. Istället för att använda sig av en pappers baserad TV-guide eller texttv, så kommer en elektronisk TV-guide, dvs en elektronisk program guide att användas. Med en sådan kommer användaren kunna söka bland kanalerna genom att t ex ange dag, kanal, kategori för att hitta det önskade programmet. De webbaserade elektroniska program guider som idag finns i Sverige, är väldigt lika vad gäller både utseende och funktion. Den gemensamma funktionen som de har är att de kan visa vad som sänds just nu på alla kanaler. Själva kanal informationen till dessa elektroniska program guider finns på flera ställen, men de mest intressanta bolagen är TVData, Infomedia och Avisa. För att kunna koppla en databas med sådan information till en server där EPG:n finns, krävs det en databaskoppling. Den mest lämpliga av JDBC kopplingarna var Native-API partly-Java och för ODBC, Two-tier-architecture. Innan man skapar en EPG bör man fundera vilken platform man skall välja. De platformar jag har utvärderat är den webbaserade, OpenTV och MediaHighway. Det är flera fördelar för att utvecklingen skall ske på den webbaserade platformen. Som t ex att det inte finns någon licenskostnad och språket är väl känt. Dock är OpenTV och MediaHighway bättre förberedda när det gäller många samtida användare. Eftersom de broadcastar ut sitt innehåll hela tiden. Nya produkter som redan innehåller en EPG är t ex TiVo och ReplayTV. Dessa kan ses som framtidens videoappart, dock med fler intressanta funktioner samt att de lagrar alla program på en hårddisk. TiVo och ReplayTV har nästa samma funktioner och samma pris. Så vad som kommer att skilja dessa två är hur användarvänliga deras funktioner kommer att uppfattas. Dessa produkter kan ses som local-on-demand och har även flera fördelar jämfört med serverbaserad-on-demand. Contents __________________________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 About Telia ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Purpose ............................................................................................................................................. 1 1.4 Objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 2 1.5 Demarcation...................................................................................................................................... 2 1.6 Chapter description............................................................................................................................ 3 2 INTRODUCING TELEVISION............................................................................................................. 4 2.1 Analogue Television.......................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Digital Television.............................................................................................................................. 4 2.3 Distribution networks ........................................................................................................................ 5 2.3.1 Terrestrial ................................................................................................................................. 5 2.3.2 Satellite ..................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3.3 Cable......................................................................................................................................... 6 2.3.4 Back channel ............................................................................................................................. 6 2.4 Future alternatives ............................................................................................................................. 6 2.4.1 ADSL......................................................................................................................................... 6 2.4.2 Mains ........................................................................................................................................ 7 2.4.3 VDSL......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.4.4 Ethernet LAN............................................................................................................................. 8 2.4.5 High-Quality ATM..................................................................................................................... 8 2.5 Television improvements................................................................................................................... 9 2.5.1 Internet TV ................................................................................................................................ 9 2.5.2 Enhanced TV ............................................................................................................................. 9 2.6 Television standards .......................................................................................................................... 9 2.6.1 Television system ..................................................................................................................... 10 2.6.2 Frame creation ........................................................................................................................ 11 3 STANDARDS........................................................................................................................................ 12 3.1 NorDig............................................................................................................................................ 12 3.2 DVB ............................................................................................................................................... 12