ip coverstory_cover story 07/03/2014 08:34 Page 4
“One of the primary
goals of standards is
certainly to enable
interoperability.”
David Leporini,
Viaccess-Orca
mechanisms.”
“Today, the
biggest
consumers of those streaming formats are
Google with Android, YouTube, and
Chrome, and Apple with iOS and
iTunes. Google is moving towards MPEGDASH and Apple is still using HLS. As long
as Apple doesn’t switch to MPEG-DASH,
those two standards will continue to exist in
parallel. There are other standards like
Microsoft Smooth Streaming that are very
popular among OTT TV operators, but I
believe that they will eventually switch to
MPEG-DASH,” he says.
Alcatel-Lucent’s Robinson advises that the
Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) has
come up with a set of standards to support inhome streaming of pictures, music and video
that can help with the device fragmentation
issue. “With the Commercial Video Profile 2
(CVP2) standard, a pay-TV
operator can deliver
premium video to multiple
devices in the home. By
specifying the use of
HTML5, CVP2 ensures
that operators ca n extend a
consistent and compelling
user experience across all
device types. The improved processing power
in Smart TVs will enable operators to offer
compelling HTML5-based user experiences.”
SIMPLIFIED. According to Robinson, the
industry is moving towards a simplified
method of video delivery, dominated by
HTTP based Adaptive Streaming over IP.
“The move to HTTP Video removes the need
for complex and expensive video handling
and manipulation in the operator’s network,
leveraging native capabilities of IP-connected
devices to display video and render complex
user interfaces; standardisation efforts need
to shift accordingly,” he declares.
Looking ahead, he believes MPEG-Dash
will become the dominant adaptive bitrate
streaming format for smart TVs, PCs,
smartphones and tablets as it’s already been
backed by the consumer electronics industry
and big web players such as Adobe.
“However, in the meantime, additional
intelligence in the CDN such as that found in
Alcatel-Lucent Velocix EVE solution can
repackage content ‘on the fly’ at the edge of
the network based on the device used.”
Nouvel suggests the industry is probably
heading to a cohabitation between MPEGDASH iso profile (replacing MSS and HDS)
and HLS from Apple, that is already widely
implemented as a de facto standard.
“Multiplying the number of formats means
multiplying the storage space or the
processing requirements to switch from one
format to the other. Most systems are now
able to support different types of formats,”
she notes.
DOMINANT. Dale says that within ‘over the
web’ distribution, many video streaming
formats have come and gone. “Today we are
at the point where HTTP-based streaming has
become the dominant protocol. The particular
flavour of HTTP streaming (MPEG-DASH,
HDS or HLS) is not of much concern on the
network service level, and it’s unlikely that
this will change anytime soon. This is
especially true where monetisation becomes
interdependent on delivery protocols. For
example, we have recently seen the
emergence of per-user ad stitching. It’s
unlikely that traditional digital telco
broadcast standards would easily interoperate
STANDARDS
BODIES
The Advanced Television
Systems Committee is an
international, non-profit
organisation developing
voluntary standards for
digital television. The ATSC
member organisations
represent the broadcast,
broadcast equipment,
motion picture, consumer
electronics, computer, cable,
satellite, and semiconductor
industries.
Specifically, ATSC is
working to coordinate
television standards among
different communications
media focusing on digital
television, interactive
systems, and broadband
multimedia
communications.
18 IP television
Broadband Forum, a nonprofit industry organisation,
is focused on engineering
smarter and faster broadband
connections. Its work defines
best practices for global
networks, enables service and
content delivery, establishes
technology migration
strategies, engineers critical
device and service
management tools, and is key
to redefining broadband.
In order to achieve the
vision of digital
interoperability in the home,
DLNA has published a
common set of industry
design guidelines that allow
manufacturers to participate
in a growing marketplace of
networked devices, leading
to more innovation,
simplicity and value for
consumers.
The Digital TV Group (DTG) is
the focal point of the UK’s
digital TV industry. The
Group, a not-for-profit
membership organisation,
brings the industry together
to enable the successful
delivery and evolution of
digital TV and associated
technologies.
The DTG publishes and
maintains the technical
specification for the UK’s
Freeview and Freeview HD
platforms and Connected TV
(the D-Book) and runs the
digital television industry’s
test centre DTG Testing..
The Digital Video
Broadcasting Project (DVB)
is an industry-led
consortium of over 200
broadcasters,
manufacturers, network
operators, software
developers, regulators and
others from around the
world committed to
designing open
interoperable technical
standards for the global
delivery of digital media
and broadcast services.
The European Broadcasting
Union is the world’s foremost
alliance of public service
media organisations, with 72
Active Members and 35
Associate Members in 77
countries across Europe and
beyond.
ETSI, the European
Telecommunications
Standards Institute,