Humax Selects SeaChange Software for Hybrid Cable Set-Top Box with Home Gateway

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
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Humax Bridges North American Cable Operators’ Requirements for QAM and IP Video Environments, Blends tru2way and HTML5 Subscriber Applications

LAS VEGAS — 2012 International CES — Humax (KOSDAQ:028080), a premier set-top box manufacturer, will debut its global advanced tru2way set-top box at the International CES 2012 in Las Vegas. The version to be shown is targeted for the North American cable television market leveraging SeaChange International’s (Nasdaq: SEAC) Nucleus Hybrid Gateway software and Nitro applications suite providing a seamless subscriber experience. This next generation Humax platform supports cable operators’ QAM, IP and transitional video environments and is entering lab testing with a major U.S. cable operator.

Humax advanced set-top box demonstrations at the SeaChange booth will show home gateway capabilities such as media sharing across multiple DLNA enabled and IP connected video devices which include Apple and Android tablets and smartphones as well as game consoles. The new Humax set-top box is powered by the Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) BCM7425 Dual HD Transcoding MoCA 2.0 Gateway SoC platform, offering dual HD decoding and dual transcoding support for streaming simultaneous video broadcast content wirelessly to multiple devices; the BCM3128 Full-Band Capture Multi-Receiver SoC; and the BCM3383 DOCSIS 3.0 cable gateway SoC.

“Humax will provide a state-of-the-art Home Gateway Server & Client Set-Top solution. With its rich experience in the digital broadcasting and interactive home networking solutions industry, the joint efforts with SeaChange on the Humax platform will be the launching point into the next generation Server-Client markets,” said Albert Son, President, Humax Americas.

“Humax has addressed one of cable’s most pressing CAPEX problems with its hybrid set-top introduction while simultaneously providing a new generation of connectivity and applications previously unavailable to the market,” said Shiva Patibanda, General Manager, In-Home Business Unit, SeaChange. “SeaChange is very pleased to collaborate with Humax to produce this end-to-end solution using our open, standards based software and blending proven tru2way interoperability with internet functionality through HTML5.”

“The Humax and SeaChange solution is on the leading-edge of innovation in delivering exciting multi-screen connected TV and Internet experiences in the home,” said Dan Marotta, EVP & GM, Broadband Communications Group, Broadcom Corporation. “Broadcom’s Full-Band Capture technology, DOCSIS 3.0 and MoCA 2.0-integrated Gateway with Transcoding platforms are driving a more efficient distribution of video streams and IP services to connected devices in the home ecosystem.”

The new product is a Gateway Server Set-Top Box which includes DOCSIS 3.0 gateway functions using the Broadcom BCM7425 Dual HD Transcoding MoCA 2.0 Gateway solution and provides home-networking service based on multi-screen features and MoCA 2.0. One of the core features is a multi-screen function which transcodes and delivers two HD channel content to various products including tablets, PCs and other mobile devices. MoCA 2.0 benefits include more than double the video bandwidth, increased security and lower power. The built-in eight tuners provide the Whole-Home DVR service and supports client’s set-top boxes in other rooms. Broadcom’s Full-Band Capture digital tuning technology directly samples and digitizes the entire 1GHz downstream spectrum of a cable plant, providing access to any channel anywhere and enabling a more efficient distribution of video streams and IP services to connected devices in the home ecosystem. The SeaChange Nucleus software enables the client box to provide same functions of server DVRs. The product also enables users various additional services with HTML5 server capability, tru2way’s OCAP and open software platform.

SeaChange’s Nucleus Hybrid Gateway software is the next generation solution for supporting cable operators’ transition from QAM to IP video so operators can offer consumers multi-screen media sharing, whole-home DVR, access to apps and OTT content, using smartphones as remotes and much more. Supporting the SeaChange Nitro Subscriber Experience software and leveraging its open, standards-based approach, SeaChange produced the Nucleus end-to-end solution to blend the proven tru2way interoperability with Internet functionality through HTML5.