Humax has said it will bring its Humax TV Portal to the UK in the next few weeks, offering connected users access to the BBC iPlayer, Sky Player, YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia, through the manufacturer’s Freeview HD range.
The two products, with and without a personal video recorder, use the ANT Galio Platform. The Cambridge-based company worked with BSkyB on the implementation of the Sky Player, whereas the BBC iPlayer uses the Big Screen version of the service.
Humax has already carved a niche in the German market for a similar HbbTV product and ANT CEO Simon Woodward told Broadband TV News the two products were very much aligned. “It’s 90% the same platform, implemented in CSS and Javascript,” he said. “The bit that isn’t relavant to the UK is the signaling.”
Bob Hannent, chief technologist, Humax, agreed there was much in common with Hbb, but added there had been significant work done on the proprietary elements of the product. “It uses much of the Humax infrastructure includes some of the lessons that we’ve learnt, as well as the same browser through our partnership with ANT, but this most definitely isn’t HbbTV.”
A beta trial is expected to go live later this month ahead of a commercial launch in January 2011.
Graham North, commercial director, Humax Electronics Co. Ltd, said the product could become an integral part of the consumers’ home network.
North expressed disappointment in the sales of some Freeview HD product, which has been the terrestrial platform’s main sales pitch during 2010. “If I’m talking about Freeview HD in zapper terms then I guess I’m disappointed, but Freeview HD has taken off in other ways,” said North. “The Zapper product has maybe been priced a little high. Having said that our Freeview HD PVR has gone from strength to strength. He said the sales levels currently being enjoyed were very encouraging but that the price of Freeview HD products needed to fall.
