DVB-SCENE Issue 5
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Edition No. 05 March 2003 DVB - SCENE Tune in to Digital Convergence Tune Press Red To PPress Select 05 The Standard for the Digital World This issue’s highlights > MHP sparkles in the US with GEM > DVB 2.0 Making Progress > What is DVB-X? > Advanced Audio & Video Coding > DVB-S2 - Next generation > Service requirements for DVB-T > Copy Protection Executive Director Peter MacAvock, 10 YEARS AFTER A word from the DVB Project Office DVB turns 10 in 2003. One often for quite a while - since 1995 to be NEW wonders if the Project continues to have precise. It still continues to be at the relevance in the world of broadcasting, leading edge of technology thanks to the MEMBERS especially since there have been many latest developments in receiving changes in television. Digital television technologies - evidence of a truly future- Force UK Ltd is a reality, but the harsher realities of proof specification. All DVB-T eyes are Fujitsu-Siemens Computers GmbH the economic situation have meant that on Berlin at the moment as they proceed interactive television, once thought of as towards analogue switch-off at an Techno Trend AG the panacea of the broadcaster and unbelieveable pace. Since the launch manufacturers, hasn’t yet delivered on there in November 2002, 70,000 its promises. receivers have been sold which is a DVB-SCENE : 03 significant number for a small Published by the DVB Project Office, This hasn’t stopped DVB preparing for geographic region completely dominated c/o European Broadcasting Union, the day when we all “use” our TVs. MHP by cable television. In fact, the first 17a Ancienne Route, is the cornerstone of these preparations. major switch-off date comes at the end CH-1218 Grand Saconnex, Switzerland. It is now well under way, with the of February, just as we go to press. www.dvb.org & www.mhp.org specifications maturing, the conformance process in place and Germany is key, because many of the Editors: William Daly, Harold Bergin delivering conformance test based social issues around switch-off will be Editorial and Advertising enquiries to: logos. But what of the other initiatives dealt with some 10 years before the WHD PR around the world to develop open majority of us see analogue switched E-mail: [email protected] middleware systems? Well one of these, off. Telephone: +44 (0)20 7799 3100 CableLabs, announced some time ago This issue of DVB SCENE also reports All rights reserved. No part of this publication may that they would adopt MHP and work on the developments in the UK where be reproduced without prior consent of the with DVB to produce a specification Freeview has taken everyone by publisher. All content correct at time of print. (c) essentially permitting MHP to run on surprise, and pleasant surprise at that. DVB-SCENE 2003. DVB an MHP are registered their particular environment. The result Freeview was launched to time with the trademarks of the DVB Project. Certain other is the Globally Executable MHP (GEM) Christmas season which is all important product names, brand names and company names specification developed by the MHP in Western European countries. The may be trademarks or designations of their Umbrella Group (MUG). You can blame idea was fabulous, especially as the respective owners. the group’s chairman, Bill Foote (Sun) “converter boxes” (the low-end set-top- Design by GyroGroup, Geneva, Switzerland. for the name, but it has raised a few boxes available in the UK) were freely eyebrows. available at the type of price which made Printed by Pims Print Limited, Yeovil, UK. But that’s not all. There are other groups them appropriate Christmas presents. The views expressed in this newsletter But the shops ran out of stocks of these are those of the individual DVB members working on open middleware systems converter boxes in mid-December. or guests and are not necessarily the who are following the GEM process very views of the DVB Project Office or closely and we hope to be able to make So 2003 promises to be interesting for Steering Board. announcements in this area shortly. DVB. In these tough economic times, Regardless of this activity, MHP offers a standardisation is more important than unit set of conformance arrangements ever, as organisations can ill afford and a licensing regime which breaks the poorly targeted development investment Cover - DVB-SCENE wishes to mould. Designed as a truly open as they prepare for better times to come. thank the following companies for system, it is delivering on its promise. Will DVB be around in another 10 contributing screenshots of MHP Now the market must decide when and years? Well nobody knows, but you can services: Alticast, BetaResearch, ICT how to implement MHP with new and be sure that DVB-T and MHP certainly Embedded BV, MTV3 Finland, Ortikon exciting applications. will. Interactive OY, Philips, Premiere, Sony, TVC Multimedia, and YLE. DVB-T is often seen as the flagship DVB specification. It has been around DVB’S GEM Bringing MHP’s sparkle to the US and beyond Bill Foote, JavaTV, iTV and Standardization Engineer – Sun Microsystems, L.A. & Chairman MHP Umbrella Group DVB-SCENE : 04 In January 2002, the DVB technical specification is backed by a and work in all markets. module created a new working group, comprehensive conformance test suite • Adoption of MHP’s core across called the MHP Umbrella Group, or that ensures that all MHP compatible markets promotes economies of scale MUG. Our mission? To build on the equipment works the same way. This and competition. This hold the promise worldwide momentum of the Multimedia enables a horizontal consumer market of driving the price of set-top boxes and Home Platform (MHP) by enabling it in for receiving equipment. It also provides digital TV sets down further, faster. other markets. The end goal was no a common platform for enhanced and • Enhanced commonality of broadcast less than the adoption of the core of interactive television programming. infrastructure similarly promotes MHP as a universal, global standard, In markets such as the US and Japan, economies of scale and competition, even in NTSC markets such as the US. it’s not practical to adopt all details of the thus generating cost savings. One year later, we are well on our way MHP specification, because there is a • The considerable number of man- with GEM, a DVB specification that is a substantial investment in equipment that years of effort invested in MHP “blueprint” for building an MHP-based is not compatible with MHP’s conformance testing can be applied in specification that is tailored to the requirements. The most obvious other markets. requirements of another market. example may be video, where the US MHP is the DVB specification for and Japan have a 30Hz frame rate at a The MUG has made great progress building interactivity into digital TV. It somewhat lower vertical resolution than toward achieving its goal. A single, specifies all layers of the interactive worldwide iTV standard that unifies component of a set-top box or digital TV content, receiver manufacture and set. This includes a core Java virtual “...MHP conformance testing conformance testing across Europe, the machine, a number of interfaces used can be applied in other US and the rest of the world now by applications as well as details of markets.” appears to be within reach. screen resolution, signalling, service Shortly after its formation, the MUG information and modulation schemes that required by MHP. The differences began work on a specification called (DVB-T, DVB-S and DVB-C). The MHP go beyond that, however: service GEM, which stands for Globally information is sent differently, the Executable MHP. GEM lays out those modulation schemes are different, elements of MHP that must be subtitles are handled differently, and supported in any iTV specification that other details differ. is based on MHP. It’s sort of a Despite all of this, most of the MHP cookbook for creating an iTV specification applies perfectly to these specification: It describes the other markets. Indeed, the vast majority foundation and required technical of the MHP guarantees that impact essentials, such as the base virtual network-independent broadcast machine and a comprehensive set of applications can be preserved in other application interfaces. It then includes environments. Keeping these requirements for those elements to be guarantees in all markets has a number defined in a market-specific way, to of important benefits: adapt to local signalling or other • Applications can be authored once, elements of the local environment. DVB’S LEGAL EAGLE At the November 2002 meeting of the through our GEM process, to sister DVB Steering Board, Carter Eltzroth standards forums in other broadcasting was named as DVB’s Legal Director. environments. At the Steering Board’s Although a new position within DVB, November meeting, we adopted an Carter comes well prepared. He has approach to ensure reciprocity with our acted as the chairman of the Intellectual IPR rules and coordination with the Property Rights Module since the MHP conformance regime.” inception of the DVB ten years ago. Carter will also be following the progress Carter will continue working actively with on the initial steps in creating an IPR the IPR Module and its new chairman, licensing regime for MHP and other Anthony Dixon of Pace Microsystems, recent DVB specifications. Working with and he will see through to completion Theo Peek, Chairman DVB, and Peter projects he helped launch over the past MacAvock, Executive Director, he’ll be years. tackling the full range of other legal “Over the next months I’ll help the MHP questions that a standards forum has to compliance and licensing regime find its address.