IBC 2012 – AMSTERDAM. The organisation responsible for the technical standards in 68% of the receiver market is planning a study of the companion screen and the streaming process.
“The two concepts are inextricably linked. We’re only starting to see lots of exciting developments for services that enhance traditional broadcast services,” said Nick Wells, the newly appointed chairman of the DVB’s technical module. “We can see telcos and broadcasters working together in IP and I believe this is an area where the DVB has a huge amount to offer.”
It is possible that the DVB’s first work in the area will be revealed in the next 12 months.
“If you talk to people about second screens and companion screens everyone has their own way of doing it and that makes it ripe for standardisation.”
Wells, who helped develop the DVB-T2 standard, said that for broadcasters who wanted to do signing [for the deaf] through a second screen app had to agree on their method so it would be known what information needed to be added. There were also a number of ways that broadcasters had adopted when using an iPad or similar device as a remote control.
The DVB is also working on improvements to the DVB-S2 standard as used in the professional environment. Although the economics do not allow for a new deployment of set-top boxes, capacity savings of between 20 and 30% make improvements in contribution feeds a possibility.
