TELEsatélite - TELE-satellite International Magazine

FEATURE
TV Transmission Standard
Hybrid broadcast
broadband TV
Get organized
for the inevitable
This will not be a surprise for TELE-satellite readers.
A new standardization initiative has been started to
integrate the digital TV world with the Internet. The basic
idea is quite clear: make it as seamless as possible for
the end user. TELE-satellite editors often mentioned the
obvious truth: the average end user is rarely interested
through what transmission medium data is coming to
their TV-sets or monitors. Is it via satellite, via cable or
via the air? Or perhaps via Ethernet cable rather than the
coaxial one used in CATV? And maybe via optical fibers?
This is a typical situation in today’s rapidly
changing industry: most advanced
manufacturers demonstrate that new
functionalities are possible from the
technology and economical point of view
and suddenly everybody realizes that if
we do not have a good new standard, a
number of solutions not compatible with
one another will pop up soon. This will
trigger a big confusion among the end
users, operators and manufacturers.
It is in everybody’s interest to create a
common solution.
Exactly this happened in the receiver
boxes industry. Our readers certainly
remember the test reports describing
the receivers capable not only to process
satellite TV signal but also enabling the
user to surf the Internet.
On August 29 2009, a consortium of
leading European companies of broadcasters,
research institutes, satellite
operators and media and software providers
has been established with a goal
to prepare a harmonized broadcast and
broadband specification for delivery of
news and entertainment to the end user.
The solution is based on existing standards
and web technologies and the ter-
116 TELE-satellite — Global Digital TV Magazine — 12-01/2011 — www.TELE-satellite.com
minal devices at user’s site are TV-sets
and receiver boxes that optionally have
web connection. Please note: not the
PC’s!
With a HbbTV product, the user still
has only one remote control and one
screen and the operation is as easy as
with a regular TV-set and a receiver box.
The user enjoys the combined wealth of
broadcast and broadband: new services
from entertainment providers, online
providers and CE manufacturers. Examples
are: catch-up TV, video on demand,
interactive advertising, personalization,
voting, betting, photo sharing or social
networking. Enhanced EPG and teletext
are also included.
Hybrid in the HbbTV name means
using on one side the medium typical
for today’s digital TV broadcast and
on the other side the World Wide Web.
Specification is independent from the
broadcast transmission medium: DVB-T,
DVB-S and DVB-C. IP connection is recommend
but not required. Of course, the
functionality will be limited if one has no
connection to the Internet.
And now one paragraph for the professionals.
The HbbTV specification is
based on elements of existing standards
and web technologies : OIPF (Open IPTV
Forum), CEA, DVB and W3C. Except for
the standard web technologies (HTML,
CSS, JS, DOM), HbbTV provides: video
control API’s, access to channel list,
broadcast service selection, streaming
video playback (HTTP & RTSP), access
to now/next program events, support for
DSM-CC object carousel or HTTP, load
files or applications using either proto-