ACCESS CO., LTD, DTVKit, EKT and HiSilicon today announced the launch of a complete new customizable platform that enables operators and middleware to design any service for any content, delivered to the household TV. The platform will make its debut on the EKT stand #1.D11 at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC, Amsterdam, September 14-18).
The universal STB platform designed by ACCESS, DTVKit, EKT and HiSilicon has been developed to respond to the rise of personalization of content and enhanced consumer experiences associated with the multi-platform, multi-device delivery world.
“The basis for our new STB delivery platform was to solve the issue that a new deployment usually means locking yourself in for the next 5-10 years with a fixed set of vendors. With our modular and flexible platform, we deliver the power of 4K, the freedom to deploy new features on a Chromium-based browser complete with powerful features like HbbTV, YouTube and Netflix, whilst giving the operator great freedom on how to engage the end consumer with the integration of many middlewares and security protocols,” said Richard Smith, CEO at EKT.
“The easy way to solve the fragmentation challenge in multiscreen is to design a unified, rigid solution that limits customization and simplifies development. Yet, consumers today crave personalised experiences and want to have access to services on all devices – both in and out of the home. This highlights the need for expert knowledge of each aspect of the video industry to ensure operators can solve today’s hyper-customization challenge,” added Dr. Neale Foster, CEO at ACCESS Europe.
The universal platform is a hyper customizable solution that simplifies the creation and management of services for any middleware, any content and any device. This provides operators with unique know-how of the subtleties and necessary elements that must be combined to create a unified, yet highly customizable service with a next generation of future-proof set-top boxes.
“The number of video-enabled applications today is enormous, and it is virtually impossible for operators to deliver the same quality of experience on all devices. Having the right technology for the specific use case of each operator needs to be complemented with working with experts that can share their knowledge, which is why we are launching this joint platform,” said John Liu, General Manager of the STB Product Line at HiSilicon.
“This initiative was born from customers coming to all of us with issues after using or trialling framework solutions that don’t deliver all they need. By combining broad functionality with expertise of the minutiae of the TV business, we are enabling operators to successfully follow any business model,” concluded Phil Evans, General Manager of DTVKit.
Key features of the platform:
- ACCESS’ NetFront™ Browser BE: engineered to leverage the Chromium Blink HTML5 engine for embedded platforms, the HTML5 browser enhanced by ACCESS provides operators with unique APIs to enable System on Chip (SoC) vendors, connected TV manufacturers and operators to leverage today’s high performance platforms to deliver an enhanced, standards based, user experience to their customers. Extending the support for HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3, NetFront™ Browser BE also supports extended specifications such as W3C Media Source Extensions and Encrypted Media Extensions to enable support for premium content and the use of Digital Rights Management. ACCESS also adds support for worldwide DTV standards such as HbbTV 2.0.1, ARIB STD-B62/TR-B39 (2nd generation digital broadcasting) and Freeview Play 2017. Experience with YouTube on TV 2017 certification and support for other OTT services ensures SoC vendors, device manufacturers and operators can provide the services their customers need.
- DTVKit: dedicated to transforming the connected entertainment industry by positively changing the approach to developing and maintaining the key, non-differentiating software components necessary to implement a digital television receiver, DTVKit enables a shift away from proprietary royalty-based models towards an open royalty free model. DTVKit is being deployed in significant quantities by operators all over the world, for DVB-S2 and DVB-C boxes, alongside DVB-T2 boxes in Germany and South Africa.
- EKT’s set-top-boxes: delivering a wide range of products, from Zappers to Advanced Hybrid Set Top Boxes, and operator TVs, EKT is one of the few business partners to offer a true one-stop solution for operators. Certified and integrated with many CA, DRM and licenses, EKT is a partner of choice for many operators around the world. EKT has its own STB Linux software solution on top of the HiSilicon SoC, which combines the strength of its media player with the power of the ACCESS browser and the DTVKit platform. On top of this, many user interfaces and middlewares are ported to deliver the fastest and latest user experiences. This enables operators to bring the interactive TV experience their clients are looking for.
- HiSilicon: the Hi3796MV200 is the latest generation SoC in the integrated UHD product family. It offers higher levels of integration and performance while reducing the overall power footprint. Ideally suited for a range of different multimedia and video applications from OTT, Media Hubs and Set Top Boxes applications, by offering industry leading technologies and added support for Broadcast Conditional Access and Digital Rights Management capabilities. HiSilicon’s Hi3796MV200 provides powerful CPU and GPU processing capabilities with a quad-core ARM® Cortex® A53 64-bit CPU and a multi-core ARM® MaliTM 450 graphics GPU and subsystem along with the latest generation of the HiVXE2.0 Multi-format Video decode engine that supports the latest industry formats, AVS 2.0, HEVC and VP9 10bit decoding.
