Software (Media Players, Middleware, Browsers, Stacks, …) News

HbbTV Association releases v9.2 test suite
Jul 31, 2017 – The HbbTV Association has announced that version 9.2 of its test suite has now been released. The aim of this release of the Test Suite is to support the certification of devices coming to market in 2018 for all versions of the HbbTV standard.
News categories: HbbTV Association, Klaus Illgner, Digital TV, Europe, HbbTV, QoE, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Worldwide

More than half of Smart HD TVs sold in the UK have Freeview Play
Jul 31, 2017 – Freeview has announced that Freeview Play TVs account for more than half of all Smart HD TV sales in the UK. In June, 55% of Smart HD TVs sold were Freeview Play enabled, a rise of 20 percentage points since January 2017.
News categories: Freeview, Guy North, Dan Hastings, Digital TV, Market Research, Middleware, Smart TV, UK

You.i TV adding support for React Native
Jul 28, 2017 – You.i TV has announced support for React Native as a development framework on top of You.i Engine. Support for React Native, the Facebook-backed open source Javascript project, will be available in the first half of 2018.
News categories: You.i TV, Turner, Andrew Emmons, Matthew Drooker, Digital TV, Mobile, UX, Worldwide

UK D-Book 9 Conformance Test Suites now available
Jul 28, 2017 – D-Book 9 Conformance Test Suites are now available to assist with the transition from MHEG to HbbTV, which was introduced for UK DTT in the DTG’s D-Book 9 published in November 2016. The Test Suites are used as part of the Conformance Regime for Freeview HD and Freeview Play TMLs.
News categories: DTG Testing, Freeview, Ian Medland, Mike Jones, Digital TV, HbbTV, MHEG-5, Terrestrial, UK

ACCESS NetFront Browser BE v2.4 powers HTML5-based entertainment up to 8K
Jul 27, 2017 – ACCESS CO has announced the release of its NetFront Browser BE SDK v2.4 for Linux and Android. The HTML5 compliant browser provides a standards-based solution for operators looking to deploy a single service across multiple platforms.
News categories: ACCESS CO, Dr Neale Foster, Digital TV, HTML5, Mobile, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Streaming, Worldwide

Turner Brasil using Witbe to monitor its OTT streams
Jul 25, 2017 – Witbe (Euronext Growth – FR0013143872 – ALWIT) and its Brazilian partner SDC Engenharia, have been selected by Turner Brasil to test and control the performance, availability and integrity of their OTT streams.
News categories: Witbe, Turner Brasil, SDC, Marie-Véronique Lacaze, Flavio Menna, Brazil, Digital TV, QoE, Streaming

TiVo introduces personalized content discovery with voice search
Jul 25, 2017 – TiVo (NASDAQ:TIVO) has introduced a fully-integrated Personalized Content Discovery platform. The platform provides content discovery features that combine the power of TiVo’s conversational voice search with personalized search and recommendations.
News categories: TiVo Corp, Pratik Patel, Colin Dixon, Big Data, Digital TV, USA, UX, Worldwide

NOWO delivers OTT video with castLabs multi-DRM and video player
Jul 25, 2017 – castLabs has announced a collaboration with Portuguese cable operator NOWO to facilitate multiscreen delivery of both live and VOD DRM-protected content for the NOWO TV App.
News categories: castLabs, NOWO, Michael Stattmann, Ana Maria Teixeira, Cable TV, Digital TV, DRM, IBCShow, Media Player, Mobile, Portugal, Set Top Box

ARRIS introduces TiVo-based STBs in support of the NCTC VU-IT! Program
Jul 24, 2017 – ARRIS (NASDAQ: ARRS) has announced the availability of three STBs, based on the TiVo user experience, that support the NCTC VU-IT! Program. The NCTC VU-IT! Program is focused on enabling independent operators to deliver integrated OTT services alongside standard cable programming.
News categories: ARRIS International, TiVo, NCTC, Larry Robinson, Michael Hawkey, Rich Fickle, Cable TV, Digital TV, Middleware, Set Top Box, Streaming, USA