iWedia set-top box solution enters mass production with General Satellite

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012
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  • General Satellite has chosen an iWedia’s complete (hardware and software) solution for its brand new GS-8305 STB which has just entered mass production
  • The hardware of this DVB-S2 HD STB is based on NEOTION’s NP6+ SoC
  • The STB software is based on Teatro-2, iWedia’s turnkey software solution featuring Comedia DVB stack and Maestro application engine
  • The STB is secured with DRECrypt Conditional Access System
  • The STB allows the operator to smoothly integrate advertising messages within the User Interface, and thus to generate additional revenues

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — iWedia, the international provider of complete hardware and software solutions for connected Consumer Electronics devices, today announced that one of its STB solutions has been adopted by General Satellite for its brand new GS-8305 STB which has just entered mass production.

General Satellite will be deploying this STB on the network of Tricolor TV, the largest satellite television operator and the pay-TV market leader In Russia. Tricolor TV covers the European part of Russia and most of Siberian, Ural and Far East regions, and has passed the 10 million subscriber mark in March 2012 which represents around 30 million viewers.

The STB hardware is based on NP6+, an MPEG-4 HD SoC provided by NEOTION. It is equipped with a DVB-S/-S2 tuner, 16 MB of Flash memory, 128 MB of DRAM, and with HDMI, CVBS, analogue audio, USB, and Ethernet interfaces. It features a smart card slot and an SD card reader.

The software of the STB is based on iWedia’s Teatro-2 turnkey software solution featuring Comedia DVB stack and Maestro application engine. Teatro-2 is integrated with DRECrypt Conditional Access System kernel.

The end user applications feature information banner, channel list, favorite lists, LCN – logical channel numbering – management, user settings, antenna and LNB management, automatic and manual installation, and over-the-air software update. The UI is available in Russian, Ukrainian and English.

The STB also features four operator-controlled applications:

  • Abox – allows the operator to display interstitial ads when the user zaps and to insert commercials within the information banner
  • TV chat – allows the subscribers to chat among themselves either in public or private sessions
  • TV mail – allows the subscribers to get access to their e-mail account and to read their messages on their TV screen
  • InfoCas – an emergency alert application mandated by the Russian government displaying information of national importance such as urgent situations, natural and weather disasters, etc.

“We are deeply honoured that General Satellite selected our STB solution”, says Nikola Teslić, CTO of iWedia. “We believe that we managed together to deliver a product extremely adapted to the Russian fast growing market from a cost point of view while not compromising with neither the quality of the user eXperience nor with the capability to provide added value services”.