Digital TV Labs announces support for HbbTV Test Suite

Official HbbTV test suite release supported by Ligada iSuite advanced test environment

BRISTOL, UK — Digital TV Labs, which provides independent, specialised receiver conformance products and services, has today announced its full support for the official release of the HbbTV Test Suite via its advanced Ligada iSuite test harness. The company is also offering manufacturers a 30-day free trial of Ligada iSuite.

Digital TV Labs has been very closely involved with the development of the official HbbTV Test Suite against the v1.1 specification from within the HbbTV Consortium and has authored nearly 50 per cent of its tests. However, the HbbTV Consortium is a standards body and does not enforce a certification regime. Compliance to the specification is governed by use of the official HbbTV test suite, which can be acquired directly by manufacturers.

Keith Potter, Digital TV Labs CEO, says, “Receiver manufacturers need to decide the most efficient and cost-effective way to guarantee HbbTV compliance. In order to be able to run the test suites, users require a specialised test harness. Ligada iSuite incorporates a fully automated test harness that supports the official HbbTV 1.1 test suite and now covers the new 1.5 specification. We’re already seeing HbbTV deployments that are taking advantage of elements of the 1.5 specification. At the moment there are no clear timescales for the release of an official test suite which covers this.”

As well as including an automated test harness, Ligada iSuite includes a raft of additional, added value HbbTV1.1 tests, a complete HbbTV 1.5 test suite covering DASH and can also optionally contain the French TNT2.0 test suite, adding DRM support. Ligada is an out-of-the-box installation which enables users to start testing HbbTV immediately.

Potter adds, “Conformance really is key to end-user adoption, as poorly delivered content and applications can lead to negative user perception. The continuing standard development work, planned or currently in progress, is testament to the world’s interest in the industry and HbbTV’s rapid rise to widespread deployment.”