HbbTV has been formally adopted by ETSI as an international standard for hybrid broadcast broadband TV.
TS 102 796 V.1.3.1, corresponds to HbbTV 2.0, and adds support for features that include companion device support, HTML5 user experience and support for advanced video delivery features such as Ultra HD and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) to enhance the consumer experience.
From its grounding in the French and German markets, HbbTV has now been adopted by over 20 countries. Its principal use has been the introduction of electronic programme guides, catch up TV and interactive advertising.
The newly released version of TS 102 796 specification includes enhanced features taking into account evolving technologies such as HTML5, HEVC for broadband-delivered video and Timed Text Markup Language for broadband-delivered subtitles and improved user privacy. It also adds support for communication and synchronisation between an application on a TV/set-top box and a related application on a smart phone or tablet. Video/audio files can be pushed via broadcast to local storage in a device for later consumption.
Full details of the standard can be downloaded here.
