Once pay-TV viewers really get used to having a DVR and a high definition TV, what will be next? Will they expect the EPG to take the same quantum leap forward that their viewing experience has?

According to James Field, NDS Director of Technology in the UK, "As both HDTVs and DVRs become more popular, pay-TV operators will have to offer an enhanced user experience that features a new generation of personalized TV graphics and other applications."

To help this development, Field says that NDS is working on an R&D initiative that is intended "to raise the bar of graphics, video/user input and audio performance in STBs." He says that the graphics created in TV studios already include a lot of eye candy and special effects. "There's no reason this shouldn't be available in the STB environment as well."

Assessing need for changes

NDS is well positioned in the industry both to assess the need for changes and to implement them. "We have good relations with the leading chipset manufacturers and we are among the leaders in STB middleware, design and introduction of interactive TV - including programs," Field says. "The fact is we have feedback from operators indicating what they will be looking for in the next few years. In addition, we have made significant investment in R&D - and now we want to capitalize on future possibilities."

The new HD GUI initiative, which began about three years ago, reflects NDS' understanding of business models. "Operators are interested in improving and enhancing their STBs - without a significant increase in price," he says. "It now makes sense to use integrated hardware acceleration to improve graphics so that the user experience will be richer but the price of the STB won't be."

Field explains that the cycle to make new silicon chips typically takes about two to three years. "NDS has refined our architecture so that it meets the goals of this technical leap forward. At the same time we're trying to keep the cost increase as small as possible." Once the hardware exists NDS will develop the appropriate API [application programming interface]. "One of our principles is that we won't rely on a particular chipset or middleware," he says. "NDS always tries to develop open technologies. If a technology is proprietary it will be less popular." To this end, NDS is working with the Khronos group to support and develop open graphics standards that will enable authoring and accelerated playback on a variety of platforms and devices.

Increased viewer satisfaction

The anticipated result of this initiative will be the ability to deliver an improved user experience for the next generation of high definition technology.

"We expect this enhanced user experience to increase viewer satisfaction levels for pay-TV operators worldwide," Field says.

What does this mean? "Basically, the initiative allows application developers and operators to take advantage of the size and quality of high definition screens and TVs. Just making EPGs larger - to accommodate larger screens - would be boring. We're developing a wide variety of new applications to accommodate both the quality and size of the new screens," Field says. But NDS is also incorporating other factors. Not surprisingly, viewers are becoming more knowledgeable when it comes to how they use an EPG. "What we're doing now is preparing viewers for the next step."

NDS has already presented its future vision of EPGs to chip vendors. Most of these innovations will be available within the next two to five years - with some functionality available next year. Field explains that by having better chips, "the graphic rendering can be on the STB rather than at the headend. This will result in a richer user experience complementing HDTV services."

When viewers are searching for a program, it no longer really matters where it is located. The fact is there are thousands of channels and tens of thousands of programs to choose from.

"As a result, the challenge is for the EPG to help viewers find what they want to watch. By making use of the new graphics capabilities, the EPG is more pleasant to watch and easier to use. It should be noted that it also reinforces branding of channels which is significant in the current market where branding is being challenged by the proliferation of channels. Because HDTV delivers higher resolution, designers can use more of the screen to show more elements, therefore delivering more powerful visuals, in turn fostering increased loyalty.

Future applications:

• Non-linear programming: Based on NDS XSpace, IP video is added to broadcast TV. The result is that the STB remains the main point of consumption for TV and other digital media.
• STB games: Based on NDS Xtreamplay, operators can squeeze the highest quality images from the lowest-priced STBs. Graphics are saved on the hard disk. A videostream gives better resolution on the STB. The result is next generation console-quality games with pre-rendered videostreams.
• Interactive ads: Text plus video information is now available on the hard drive. For example, an ad for a new car doesn't just show slick photos. With the click of a button, viewers can check specifications ranging from the airbags to exhaust emissions. Instead of checking products on the Web, viewers can see them in HD - and because it's on their hard disk they can access them at any time.

Of course there are other applications. Weather forecasts, stock prices, preview screens for current and future programs are the most obvious applications to take their place on the viewer's EPG. What is important is that the new NDS initiative will combine the flexibility offered by hybrid DVRs with the superior quality of HDTV to offer a truly outstanding viewer experience from the minute viewers make their first click on their remote.

Seeing is believing. Contact an NDS office and ask to see a demonstration of what you can expect from EPGs in the future.

Whether you're a cable operator, telco or over the top provider, the race is on to get personal, customizable video content across various devices. One of the sessions at the SCTE [Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers] Conference on Emerging Technologies in mid-January drew a bead on how to create personal TV experiences for subscribers. The session with the rather cumbersome name of "My Videos, Your Videos, Our Videos: The Future of TV Service Is Personal, Customizable and Shareable" gave panelists the opportunity to expound on just how the "any video, to any device at any time" strategy can reach fruition.

Moderator Yvette Gordon-Kanouff, who is SeaChange International's Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, noted that cable does have an advantage over some of the contenders in this space since the industry is already addressing issues such as digital rights management and conditional access, and "we have the ability to create communities." Gordon-Kanouff also said during the session that cable needs to work on standards, interfaces and common platforms.

Building communities was a recurring theme during the session. Brian Kahn, an engineering manager with SeaChange, said television needs to be personalized so that subscribers can not only watch what they want when they want, but also share videos or slideshows of town hall meetings, high school athletic events or other types of content.

Instead of using a home media center that requires a media adapter, routers and other gear, Kahn said a network media center website with shared QAMs and centrally located content would be less costly and easier for subscribers since they wouldn't have to do the configurations themselves. "It would be a simple website that pushes this [content] to a set-top box as well," Kahn said. "It brings more opportunities to blend TV and the Web and creates a service beyond the triple play that is more interactive."

Gamers as assets

Darren Schueller, the Technical Director for NTN Buzztime, said cable operators have a unique opportunity to deploy community-based gaming services to their customers.

"Players with digital assets that are developed over time become attached to them and don't want to lose them," he said. "The key to attracting players is the idea of persistence. When a person can play a game and have a piece of that world, then that person feels as though he owns that piece of data."

Schueller said the industry needs to focus on standardization, common infrastructure tools and common service layers such as OCAP.

"We'll have millions of players across the country, with Cox players trashing Comcast players and Time Warner Cable players trashing both, in a single universe where people are communicating and interacting," Schueller said. "These goals come with one key, and that's a multiple platform that can support a game on a phone, a TV, and a PC. Virtual communities are excellent retention tools because a player won't give up a 40th level Elvin warrior to go to satellite."

Playlists key to browsing

Time Warner Cable's Glen Hardin, who is Senior Director, Video Systems, Advanced Technology Group, said content similar to iTunes, Blockbuster and Netflix can be tied into the divisions.

"We can create a paradigm of browsing the Internet to create a playlist application on the set-top box," Hardin said. "If we extend this further, we have it in divisions. Now I can create storage in east/west locations and get content from a national service instead of a local. The fulfillment is faster than Netflix."

"One step farther is browsing and sorting. First the CPU is in the set- top box; next it might be in a DVR, which may help service group constraints." Hardin said the cable industry could also point content across other devices by a USB port in a set-top box.

"The failure point in our system isn't the network; it's how to present the bundle to the user," Hardin said. "I don't think it has to be the set-top box; it could be 'browse the Web and direct it to their homes.'" The key, according to Hardin, is getting the applications to work with legacy set-top boxes as well. Hardin said the playlist was the "killer app" for low-end boxes to organize a Web home page and the top-10 VOD hits, and the Web is the way to direct the content down.

Steve Calzone, Cox's Principal Systems Architect and a co-author with Schueller on one of the session's papers, said Cox has deployed interactive TV services such as viewing and paying bills, and reading emails, and it's working on letting customers send emails as well.

"We're also working with Buzztime and others to put together a back office system that will allow us to share information across a national footprint," Calzone said. "We want someone on a PS3 (PlayStation 3) to be able to play someone on a set-top box. It may just be checkers to start with, but we have to solve the simple problems first."

The author is associate editor of Communications Technology. He has been writing about telecommunications technologies in the US for over 10 years.

Broadband TV is quietly emerging as a new delivery platform that has all the signs of being able to disrupt the existing players. It is essential to distinguish between IPTV and broadband or web TV. Strictly speaking IPTV is usually a managed service from a telco like BT, Deutsche Telekom or France Telecom, with a set-top box wired into the home. Broadband TV is usually watched over the computer, though devices such as Apple TV and the Windows Media Center are gradually edging this piece of convergence toward the TV.

IPTV neatly packages the available content into manageable portions, while its broadband sibling brings with it both the highs and the lows of the Internet. As is so often the case, the content is there, it's just that you have to spend some time finding it. You also have to accept that for the time being, broadband TV is going to be a "lean forward" pastime. Devices such as Apple TV mean that sooner or later the family will be able to participate in a shared experience, as a long awaited piece of convergence finally takes its place on the technology roadmap.

Traditional broadcasters are beginning to realize that video-on-demand packages and additional channels for digital viewers are no longer sufficient to remain steady on the multimedia rollercoaster.

They join many would-be broadcasters where the sometimes prohibitive economics of operating a full time channel mean that broadband is the best option.

The problem for broadcasters and viewers alike is that there is currently no single method of presenting the content. While one broadcaster requires you to download an application to view their output, another relies on applications that are standard on most computers. There is of course the issue of Digital Rights Management [DRM], the importance of which broadcasters discovered in dramatic fashion last summer when Microsoft's Windows Media technology was temporarily compromised. Additionally, there are the inevitable rights issues that require many programs to be restricted geographically to a particular country.

The UK's five leading broadcasters all have different strategies on how to approach broadband TV delivery. The BBC's iPlayer seems to be stuck in custard until its technology receives the approval of the BBC Trust and Ofcom (the UK's Office of Communications). The same can be said for Channel 4. In picking and choosing its public service obligations, Channel 4 has decided to charge for downloads from its 4oD service. It also requires an application to be downloaded - and for the consumer to have the latest PC - to receive the content. Channel 4 has well and truly separated its paid-for video-on-demand service from the live stream of its output.

Moreover, Channel 4's online service is available only to PC users in the UK and Ireland who have a broadband connection and the Windows XP operating system installed on their machines - not exactly accessible by the masses.

By ensuring that their content is protected, broadcasters are potentially shutting out elements of their audience, at least those who do not upgrade their computers on a regular basis.

DRM is an essential part of rights protection, but in some cases the content is so heavily protected that the percentage of computers capable of running it is drastically reduced. Channel 4 also promotes the connection of the PC to the television set through S-Video and VGA sockets, although only the most modern sets would have these. Much of the debate surrounding the iPlayer has centered on whether or not the BBC should be involved in the provision of on-demand services in the first place. Surely the discussion should be about the areas of content in which they compete with the commercial sector rather than the means by which it is distributed. The BBC Trust identified the need to explore the reliance on Microsoft DRM. Over the past few months there have been several high profile meetings between senior BBC and Microsoft executives.

In September last year BBC Director General Mark Thompson and BBC Director of New Media and Technology Ashley Highfield signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft to "explore opportunities for the delivery and consumption of BBC content and the evolution of next-generation broadcasting." Although the agreement is non-exclusive, it is a world apart from the platform-neutral approach previously taken by the BBC. The Trust will require the BBC Executive to adopt a "platform agnostic" approach that would include both Apple Mac and Linux platforms.

This is certainly a step away from other broadcasters, including Sky, who have so far taken the Windows Media route for broadband. This concerns the five percent of the public that has invested in Apple Mac equipment.

Then there is the navigation problem. It seemed strange that the BBC might be prevented from bringing together the different elements of video from across its site into a single iPlayer. But this pales into insignificance when you are looking for video content, either in the form of a live stream or a video download. There was a burst of excitement when Google introduced its video indexing tool, but this enthusiasm has subsided in favor of the YouTube phenomena.

As is the case with the rest of the Internet, it helps to know what you are looking for, and if you don't know it's there, then the chances of finding it are substantially reduced.

Unlike a standard TV set-up it is impossible to switch channels in a traditional manner if you are required to download a series of separate applications in order to do so.

Companies such as Jalipo and ViewTV are establishing themselves as portals through which viewers can access online broadcast channels. In the case of Jalipo viewers will pay for channels on a pay as you go basis, ideal perhaps for the light television viewer, or someone away from their cable or satellite connection at a vital moment. One feels this is the sort of element that should begin to appear on Internet portals to replace some of the often out of date content that is supposed to encourage the subscriber to return.

These things have a habit of working themselves out. Perhaps viewers will simply gravitate to two or three favorite online channels, reducing their viewing of other outlets, or there will be a coming together of some of the big television brands. Or perhaps a Google will step forward to sort it out for all of us.

The author is Editorial Director and European Digital Analyst for Broadband TV News.