Digital TV Technology Research Articles

Efficient HDTV and 3DTV Services over DVB-T2 using multiple PLPs with layered media

The high bit rates of high-definition or 3D-services require a huge share of the valuable terrestrial spectrum, especially when targeting wide coverage areas. This article describes how to provide future services with the state-of-the-art digital terrestrial TV technology DVB-T2 in a flexible and cost-efficient way. The combination of layered media such as the scalable and 3D extension of the H.264/AVC or emerging H.265/HEVC format with the physical layer pipes feature of DVB-T2 enables flexible broadcast of services with differentiated protection of the quality layers. This opens up new ways of service provisioning such as graceful degradation for mobile or fixed reception. This article shows how existing DVB-T2 and MPEG-2 transport stream mechanisms need to be configured for offering such services over DVB-T2. A detailed description of the setup of such services and the involved components is given.

FrameIDTV: A framework for developing interactive applications on digital television environments

Digital TV technologies are stretching out the horizons for interactive applications to end users. However, developing interactive applications for this new environment is not as straightforward as developing Internet applications. In order to make this development process easier in the context of interactive digital TV (iDTV), one of the solutions is the development of Frameworks. However, after investigating some of the existing iDTV framework solutions, we have found a limitation on the range of the interactive application domain to DTV available in these current frameworks, which mainly show solutions for local interactive (enhanced TV). Thus, in this paper, we propose an iDTV Framework (called FrameIDTV) that makes possible a broader solution in the DTV domain for the construction of interactive applications, both local and remote. The remote interactivity is possible using a generic and easy to customize communication protocol that is specified in the framework for the application layer. Furthermore, applications such as voting, home banking, and t-commerce, which are executed locally in the set-top box and are integrated to remote services using a return channel, can use the proposed framework. FrameIDTV also allows the establishment of secure communications and is developed following a specific framework methodology. This framework has primarily targeted the Brazilian Digital TV standard and its procedural middleware, called Ginga-J. Nevertheless, FrameIDTV can be broadly used worldwide, since it is compliant with the Globally Executable MHP (GEM) standard.

Spontaneous interaction with audiovisual contents for personalized e-commerce over Digital TV

The development of the Interactive Digital TV technologies has the potential to open new possibilities for e-commerce, linked to the broadcasting of audiovisual contents. To cater for the advertising needs, the early initiatives are resorting to the techniques traditionally employed by the television industry, which have proven deficiencies related to targeting and viewers’ comfort. In response to that, we have developed a new advertising model, based on identifying products semantically related to the things that draw the viewer’s attention on the screen. Thereupon, a personalization engine selects the products which are potentially interesting for the viewer, and assembles interactive services that provide him/her with tailor-made commercial functionalities. This paper provides guidelines on how to support the proposed model over the technological basis of the modern Digital TV receivers (either domestic or mobile ones), and describes a sample scenario of personalized advertising.

The Impact of the Internet on Healthcare in Singapore

Advances in several key communication and information technologies are worth tracking for their impact on interactive health communication and ability to meet customers' demands. Some of these technologies include wireless technology, integrated computer telephony, improved audio-visual conferencing, speech recognition, digital TV, collaborative tools, network bandwidth, and imaging technology. These technologies enhance physician-patient communication as well as facilitate access to Web-based information and health-related transactions online. This paper highlights the current status of interactive health communication and its impact on Singapore healthcare.

Factors in Adopting Multi-access Technologies in Online Consumer Auction Markets in Finland

In this article we analyse factors relevant for adopting multi-access technologies in online auction markets. Its focus is on how multi-access technologies, such as Web and Internet technologies, mobile and wireless technologies, and digital TV technologies are adopted in online consumer auction markets. From a literature review four factors were identified based on theories of online auction markets, channels in marketing and logistics, and communication channels and media features that could explain the adoption of multi-access technologies. The four factors are: perceived appropriateness of a given multi-access technology, media richness of various multi-access technologies, support of multiple modes of communication relationships, and the level of experience in using multiple marketing channels. We analysed five Finnish consumer auction markets: Huuto.Net, Keltainen Pörssi, QXL Finland, Systeemi.Net, and Tori. Our analysis of five Finnish online auctions shows that the Internet and World Wide Web are the predominant—and in most cases the only—online access technology available to the users. Furthermore, not even the Web-technologies are used to their full potential. Our paper suggests that media richness and the ability to provide multiple modes of communication relationships stimulate the adoption of multi-access technologies. Conclusions are presented and implications are drawn for future research.

How ATM Networks Meet Professional Broadcast Demands

Through the combination of digital TV and digital networking technologies, the transport of professional broadcast services is undergoing a tremendous evolution. After a move from analog to digital, specialized leased lines are being replaced progressively by powerful general purpose asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)-based networks. The most critical issue for the adoption of this new technology by the broadcast industry is the transport of live realtime broadcast services, for which the most serious constraints appear. The level of performance that can be expected for this application is a key point for the end-user broadcaster. After reviewing various elements of the ATM technology, this paper focuses on performance aspects: the mechanisms put in place, leading to commitments by both the end-user broadcaster and the network operator to a given level of performance are explained; practical performance results are given; and examples of large-scale deployments are described.

Modeling the Evolution of Markets with Indirect Network Externalities: An Application to Digital Television

The usefulness of a technology product for an end-user often depends on the availability of complementary software products and services. Computers require software, cameras require film, and DVD players require movie programming in order for customers to value the whole product. This phenomenon, where the demand for hardware products is mediated by the supply of complementary software products, is called an indirect network externality. Indirect network externalities create a two-way contingency between the demand for the hardware product and the supply of software products, and result in a strategic interdependence between the actions of hardware manufacturers and the actions of software providers. Indirect network externalities are gaining economic significance in technology markets, because hardware and software are typically provided by independent firms, and both sets of firms have an incentive to free-ride on each others' demand creation efforts. Despite the ubiquity of this phenomenon, it has largely been ignored in the marketing science literature. We present a conceptual and operational model for the evolution of markets with indirect network externalities. The key feature of our framework is to model the market-mediated dependence between the actions of hardware manufacturers and software complementors, created by the direct dependence of consumer demand for the whole product on the actions of manufacturers as well as complementors. In addition, we incorporate marketing-mix effects on consumer response, as well as heterogeneity in consumer preferences for hardware and software attributes. We model consumer response using a latent-class choice model. To estimate the complementor response functions, we use a modified Delphi technique that allows us to convert qualitative response data into quantitative response functions. We integrate the consumer and complementor response models to create a simulation model that generates forecasts of market shares and sales volumes for competing technologies, as a function of marketing-mix effects and exogenously specified regulatory scenarios. The modeling framework is of interest to new product modelers interested in creating empirical models and decision-support systems for forecasting demand in technology markets characterized by indirect network externalities. The decision-support aspects of the modeling framework should appeal to managers interested in understanding and quantifying the complex interplay between hardware manufacturers and software complementors in the evolution of markets with indirect network externalities. We present an application of the modeling framework to the U.S. digital television industry, and use the framework to characterize the competition among analog and digital TV technologies. Our results suggest that complementor actions play an important role in the acceptance of digital TV technologies in general, and high definition television (HDTV) in particular. We find that forecasts that ignore the influence of indirect network externalities would be seriously biased in favor of HDTV. We illustrate how the modeling framework can be used to identify and profile customer segments in the digital TV market based on their utility for hardware-related features as well as programming-related features. We also illustrate the decision-support capabilities of the modeling framework by evaluating the sensitivity of the forecasts to varying marketing, regulatory, and complementor response scenarios. We derive implications for marketing and public affairs policies of the hardware manufacturers. The developments in the digital TV industry generally support our finding that HDTV will be a niche product, and will diffuse slower than originally expected due in part to the lack of programming. The delays in the introduction of digital TV to the marketplace also suggest that most forecasts for infrastructure-intensive technologies like digital TV may be too optimistic simply because they underestimate the delays in agreeing upon technology standards and resolving regulatory debates.

Multimedia systems based on satellite technology

In this paper we review the evolution of satellite based multimedia systems. We focus especially on digital TV technology over satellite. This architecture takes advantage of the broadcasting capability of satellite systems to provide a low cost broadcast link towards a huge population of receivers. This ability makes the system especially suitable for the provision of multimedia services targeted to the mass public, although a return channel must be provided in order to support interactive services. Terrestrial networks like the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) may provide this return channel.