Hardware (DVD, TV, PMP, Set-top Box, …) News

Digital migration to kick-off in South Africa's Northern Cape
Sep 29, 2015 – South Africa's Minister of Communications has announced that the registration process for subsidised set-top-boxes will begin at the Square Kilometre Array community of Keimoes, Kai Garib Municipality, Northern Cape on the 2nd of October 2015.
News categories: Ministry of Communications, Digital TV, Set Top Box, South Africa, Terrestrial

Freeview trade mark licence to be granted only for HD products
Sep 24, 2015 – UK Freeview has announced that the Freeview Trade Mark Licence will only be granted for HD products from the end of 2016. Freeview, alongside Digital UK and the DTG, has been working with television manufacturers and retailers to encourage the take-up of HD.
News categories: Freeview, DTG, Guy North, Richard Lindsay-Davies, Digital TV, Licensing, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Terrestrial, UK

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

Brazil opens consultation on specifications for Ginga C middleware
Sep 24, 2015 – Brazil's national standards body, the ABNT (Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas), has opened public consultation on technical specifications for Ginga C, the next version of the country's digital television middleware.
News categories: Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas, Brazil, Digital TV, Middleware, SBTVD, Set Top Box, Terrestrial

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

Local production of STBs for ER-Telecom begins
Sep 22, 2015 – Russia's ER-Telecom has announced that local production of set-top boxes for its Dom.ru digital TV service has begun at the Morion factory in Perm. Over 100,000 Dom.ru TV Mini boxes are planned to be assembled this year.
News categories: ER-Telecom, KAON, Andrey Semerikov, Cable TV, Digital TV, Russia, Set Top Box

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

UK's Freesat announces technology partnership with LG
Sep 21, 2015 – Freesat, the subscription free satellite TV service in the UK, and LG have announced a strategic partnership to provide the Freesat service on LG’s new and existing satellite enabled smart TVs.
News categories: Freesat, LG Electronics, Matthew Huntington, Andy Mackay, Digital TV, Satellite, Smart TV, UK