Is OTT TV ‘open’?
Recent months have seen several announcements on the availability of ‘Internet ready’ TVs. The offer, on the surface, is quite tempting; no set top box, no hooking up the laptop to the TV - just easy access to over the top TV services. We have all grown accustomed to the hardwired link between the consumer (subscriber) and the Operator. The net effect is that the consumer only gets to see what the Operator makes available. A sceptical view is that the relationship is about locking in the consumer and locking out all other options.
Over the top TV promises so much for the consumer as it has the potential not only to supply so much more content on demand but to break the dependency on a single source of content - the traditional Operator. What we have seen from the early offerings from the CE vendors with an Internet ready TV is another locked down system. Clearly some controls will need to be in place but it seems that these new offers are based on the old model of lock in / lock out. CE vendors have adopted an Operator model. When you buy a PC it doesn’t limit what applications you can install or websites you visit?
Canvas, and perhaps HBBTV, holds the potential to bring forth solutions that are open (but with controls) where content sources and applications can be added relatively simply through an app store, like iTunes. The Canvas partners have the opportunity to raise the bar and bring a truly open and compelling offer to consumers and not a closed/vertical model being offered at this time.
BCi is a Consultancy and Systems Integrator with considerable experience in the deployment of VoD and IPTV platforms. Our extensive lab facilities allows us to provide a staging environment for proof of concepts and/or off site integration for Over the Top TV solutions.
Marlin DRM added to BCi portfolio of IPTV, VoD & OTT TV integration and testing expertise
The Marlin solution meets today’s needs for content distribution and provides an end-to-end digital rights management (DRM) solution that is easy to use, efficient, cost effective and applicable to a variety of market requirements. As well as TV over Broadband and TV over Mobile solutions, Marlin is particularly well suited to Over the Top TV or Internet TV solutions.
Marlin is already active in the market and has been deployed by SONY, Activila and is being trialled by Telefonica. With its open source, community developed approach, Marlin delivers the most comprehensive and advanced DRM technology in the market today.
BCi has integrated the Marlin technology with other core hardware components into our IPTV testing lab to create a demo and testing environment to showcase Over the Top TV and Internet TV solutions.
BCi’s Consultancy, System Integration and Testing Services offer you a full range of support for Over the Top TV solutions.
BCi continues to invest in its Southampton Lab by adding 4 x 1 GigE network cards to one of the Sun servers. The Lab provides a representative broadcast eco-system to support development and testing of IPTV and VoD components and systems. The addition of these cards allows us to present in excess of 3000 concurrent video streams. This is particularly important to create appropriate test conditions for Edge QAMs, Conditional Access kit, rate shapers or SRM’s (Session Resource Managers). It perfectly compliments our RTSP test client as they will form a very effective pair for cost effective capacity testing.
This upgrade forms part of a larger investment BCi are making in the Lab. These changes will further our growth into the IPTV/VoD Consultancy and System Integration support services. In particular it will broaden our Test services and allow clients to ’stress test’ components and systems prior to launch.
