Latens sponsors CONNECTIONS Europe

Parks Associates welcome Latens as the newest Advisory Sponsor for the upcoming CONNECTIONS Europe Summit in Amsterdam on April 27th.

Latens is leading the way in IPTV and fully DVB® compliant software Conditional Access and Middleware, enabling operators of broadcast and broadband Pay-TV networks around the world to securely deliver next generation entertainment services to set-top boxes, PCs, mobile devices and home networks. With offices in the US, UK and India Latens’ customer base stretches globally. Latens continued success has been recognised with the recent inclusion in the top 500 Fast Deloitte companies for the EMEA region.

For more information about Latens please visit www.latens.com.

CONNECTIONS EU: Enabling Technologies - Connecting It All

Consumer electronics manufacturers have many choices when it comes to the design of network-connected products. This CONNECTIONS Europe panel, Enabling Technologies: Connecting It All, brings together companies developing connectivity solutions for both fixed and mobile platforms to discuss these challenges:

• Home networking architectures

• Device discovery software

• Media server solutions

• Conditional access and rights management

• User interfaces

• Software development and execution solutions

• Device and service management elements

Participants on this panel include the following:

Matthew Huntington, VP, Product Marketing, OpenTV
Wouter Leibbrandt, Manager, Advanced Systems Lab, NXP Semiconductors
Peter Smyth, CEO, RedMere
Jon Finegold, Co-Founder and COO, Thinking Screen Media
Ian Walsh, VP of Business Development, ProVision Communications

Moderator: Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates

Thomson takes a further leap forward with next generation interactive HD cable set-top boxes

Thomson, a worldwide leader of services to content creators, is demonstrating two new cable set-top boxes, based on its third generation technology and delivering high speed data as well as comprehensive digital cable services. The set-top boxes allow cable operators to offer broadband to the home at up to 100Mb/s with home networking and content sharing using the MoCA (Multimedia over Co-ax Alliance) standard.

The new DCI708 set-top box is ready for both standard and high definition television using MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 coding, including 1080 line progressive HD. It is based on a new system on a chip device, which incorporates full support for Docsis and EuroDocsis, including channel bonding to achieve internet access speeds of up to 100Mb/s. The DCI804 set-top box offers the same features and additionally includes an internal disk recorder, using fast and compact 2.5” disk drives for local recording, timeshifts and downloading data from the network operator.

The new boxes support multiple middleware and conditional access solutions. The integral high speed data connectivity gives the operator ready access for advanced interactive applications such as video on demand, and secure communications, as well as remote diagnostics and updates to minimise support costs. Where the home has existing co-ax cable connecting rooms, the implementation of MoCA allows a single set-top box to distribute content to multiple rooms within the home, allowing the users to take advantage of home networking.

For the full release, click here.

World’s First End-to-End TV Solution with 3D User Interface Ready for Deployment on IP-Hybrid Networks

The world’s first end-to-end, 3D TV solution is the result of a partnership between Orca Interactive, SoftAtHome and Viaccess to develop a unique, end-to-end 3D TV experience for the digital home. It enables service providers to accelerate time to market to deliver a new TV offering with a 3D HD user interface on broadcast, IPTV or hybrid networks (DVB-S/C/T+IP).

The user interface is one of the key battlefields for service providers to maximize customer retention and increase VOD and services revenues. In order to help service providers meet this challenge, the partners set out to bring to market the first, fully integrated and ready-to-deploy TV solution for the next generation TV user experience. This unique end-to-end solution blends the core IPTV components: Orca’s service delivery platform including the COMPASS groundbreaking content discovery solution; premium set-top-box from Pace; SoftAtHome’s operating platform; and card and cardless conditional access from Viaccess.

In addition to the 3D HD user interface, the solution gives Service Providers a complete solution to quickly deploy live TV, VoD, PVR, personalization and DLNA content sharing functionality with optimal performance and content protection. It leverages the standard Open Graphics Libraries API combined with hardware accelerators to deliver high performance HD 3D experience. The solution is on display at IBC on the booths of different partners: Orca Interactive (2.B40), Pace (1.B19), SoftAtHome (Hotel Okura Amsterdam), Viaccess (1.A51), Broadcom (5.A10), Bluestreak Technology (IP 613) and httv (1.C93).