PHILIPS DIGITAL NETWORKS SHOW NEW SOLUTION AT IBC

PHILIPS Digital Networks, a joint venture by Royal Philips Electronics and Liberate Technologies, demonstrated a new middleware solution at IBC.
The solution for commercially available digital set-top box platforms was based on the integration of Liberate’s TV–Navigator client software and the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP)- middleware, developed by Philips.
The IBC demonstration is the result of a wide-ranging MHP agreement that the two companies announced last October. Philips and Liberate are now extending this partnership to include co-operation on testing for MHP end-to-end solutions and applications, and also on authoring tools for the development of MHP interactive applications.
MHP is the digital television standard for Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. It is also a basis for the Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP) digital television standard in the United States, currently under development at CableLabs. The MHP standard was defined by the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) consortium as a common application program interface (API) for delivering multimedia services.
The Philips and Liberate MHP demonstration shows the joint capability of interactive TV applications on a set-top box platform, ranging from broadcast applications, such as downloaded games, to two-way services, such as video-on-demand. The integrated platform also allows for rapid application and service development that offers an upgrade path for network operators planning for future deployment of MHP-based services.
Liberate and Philips demonstrated integrated MHP-TV Navigator middleware solution on a commercially available set-top box platform.
The demonstrated software stack has been ported on a mainstream Philips digital set top box, which is part of the digital set top box product line of Philips Digital Networks, a leader in end-to-end digital television solutions worldwide.
The Philips MHP products are available through the company’s SoftWorks business unit that also offers interactive TV applications, middleware licensing and a suite of resident applications. (CD)