Worldwide (not region-specific) Digital TV News

HDMI Licensing launches HDMI 2.0 Certification Program
Oct 5, 2015 – HDMI Licensing has announced a Premium HDMI Cable Certification Program. The program tests that the cable can support the 18Gbps bandwidth required by the HDMI 2.0 Specification - a throughput typically needed for video formats such as 4K/UltraHD.
News categories: HDMI Licensing, Jeff Park, Rob Tobias, QoE, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Smart TV, Worldwide

Google announces additional Android TV partners
Oct 1, 2015 – Google has said that Hisense and TCL have been added as Smart TV partners for Android TV. The company also announced that Pace, Sagemcom and Technicolor will manufacture set-top boxes, and that KDDI and Telecom Italia are planning to provide Pay TV services powered by Android TV.
News categories: Google, Android TV, Digital TV, Italy, Japan, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Worldwide

Broadcom powers D-Smart Digital Channel Stacker
Sep 24, 2015 – Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) has announced that D-Smart has started volume production of a Digital Channel Stacker based on Broadcom's satellite Out Door Unit (ODU) chip. Broadcom's BCM4554 supports up to 32 set-top boxes on a single coaxial cable.
News categories: Broadcom, D-Smart, Nicholas Dunn, Erdogan Simsek, Digital TV, LNB, Satellite, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Turkey, Worldwide

HEVC Advance considering adjustments to its royalty structure
Sep 23, 2015 – In a press release announcing that MediaTek has joined the patent pool, HEVC Advance said that it is soliciting input from market participants and considering adjustments to arrive at a royalty structure that enables adoption of HEVC.
News categories: HEVC Advance, MediaTek, Peter Moller, Digital TV, Licensing, Patent, Semiconductor, Worldwide

China’s appetite for broadband fuels growth in CPE market
Sep 23, 2015 – IHS (NYSE: IHS) has raised its outlook for the broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) market. In its September report, the firm has increased its 2019 worldwide broadband CPE forecast by 8%, to US$12.4 billion.
News categories: IHS Inc, Infonetics, Jeff Heynen, 5G, CPE, Gateway, Market Research, Worldwide

EchoStar And NAGRA ship anyCAST COMMAND security for 4K Ultra HD STBs
Sep 22, 2015 – NAGRA (SIX:KUD.S) has announced that it has shipped NAGRA anyCAST COMMAND to EchoStar for production of 4K-capable set-top boxes for the companies’ joint clients. anyCAST COMMAND concentrates both decryption and descrambling into a single, secure NAGRA device.
News categories: NAGRA, EchoStar, Maurice van Riek, Mark Jackson, CAM, Content Protection, Digital TV, ICs, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Silicon IP, Worldwide

New color technology to comprise 25% of display shipment area in 2020
Sep 21, 2015 – According to IHS (NYSE: IHS), in terms of area wide color gamut flat panel displays are expected to grow from 3% in 2015 to 25% of the display market by 2020, with TV displays making up 52% of sales in 2015 and 86% in 2020.
News categories: IHS Inc, Richard Son, Digital TV, Market Research, Smart TV, Worldwide

MStar launches 4k STB SoCs with HDR to SDR conversion
Sep 17, 2015 – MStar Semi has released a new range of 4K STB chipsets including HDR to SDR conversion. If an MStar-based set-top box detects that the TV has a programmable backlight then it can control the backlight to simulate HDR even on an SDR TV.
News categories: MStar Semi, Trevor Neal, Digital TV, IBCShow, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Worldwide

Futarque releases MStar-based Android STB dev kit
Sep 17, 2015 – Futarque has announced the release of their DVB-T2 based Android STB development kit. The kit is available as small complete STB motherboard that can be purchased directly in large volume and used as the heart of an STB development.
News categories: Futarque, MStar, Jesper Kaagaard, Trevor Neal, Digital TV, IBCShow, Middleware, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Worldwide