HbbTV 2.0 specification released

The HbbTV Association has announced the release of version 2.0 of the HbbTV specification. The HbbTV 2.0 specification is the result of more than 2 years work in HbbTV as well as partner organisations including DVB and the Open IPTV Forum. The specification is a major update to the previous HbbTV specification which;

• adds new features to make existing services more attractive to the end-user or the service provider
• enables new services such as push VoD
• updates technologies from earlier specifications
• improves interoperability between services and terminals

Two major themes of the specification are the addition of support for companion screens (tablets or phones) and synchronisation to broadcast delivered content.

As well as these two major themes, other significant additions concern privacy, broadband subtitles, DVB CI Plus 1.4 and push VoD.

The most significant technologies that have been updated are HTML, video codecs and MPEG DASH.

First HbbTV 2.0 receivers are expected to appear in the market in 2016. HbbTV will award a contract for a test suite for receivers in April / May 2015 with deliveries during the remainder of 2015. This should permit the release of a validated and approved test suite some time during 2016.