Next-Gen Hardware is on its Way
This past April as part of the National Cable & Telecommunication Association’s (NCTA) Cable Show 2014 in Los Angeles, LG debuted a new family of smart set-top boxes (STBs).
While not specifically mentioning ATSC 2.0, LG’s latest line of STBs is said to help cable operators deliver “compelling home entertainment, home automation and home monitoring services to their subscribers.”
LG states the products marry Internet device platforms with flexible, cable-centric applications to meet the public’s diversifying home entertainment needs. The line of products offers features such as Ultra HDTV, OTT (over the top) services, and hybrid solutions that incorporate Google’s Android platform.
“We’re seeing increasing consumer interest in IP-based home entertainment and connected home services,” says Byunghoon Min, senior vice president, LG Electronics Home Entertainment. “With LG’s portfolio of set-top boxes and connected home products, cable operators have a comprehensive response that will satisfy subscribers’ entertainment and home automation needs now and in the future.”
Included in the product line is LG’s Ultra STB. This product supports 4K decoding in an all-in-one gateway server, content sharing via DLNA, Wi-Fi connectivity and the MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) networking standard. LG’s All-in-One Entertainment System offers the ability to play wireless music and also serves as a speakerphone in addition to its speaker and docking station capabilities. The large, South Korean company says that when the system is combined with its G Pad 8.3 tablet, homeowners can use the portable device as a monitoring console, second TV, home library, digital photo frame and radio.
Other products in the line include mini Android OTT STBs that incorporate wireless connectivity, protected HD video capabilities with digital rights management, and HDMI pass-through options. LG complements these products with a series of “lipstick style” HD IP cameras for home monitoring services to augment the security portion of its connected home initiative.
Further emphasizing the shift in how consumers are utilizing home media and why these next-generation technologies are so important to the broadcast market is a study conducted by The NPD Group. This past April the research company released its “Connected TV User Experience Report” that found that 75 percent of connected TV owners say video apps are “extremely” or “very important.”
Not surprisingly Netflix ranked as users’ top app in this study, but its NPD’s conclusions that sum up where the video market is heading.
“The importance of having core video aggregation apps such as Netflix and YouTube, has a lot to do with the convenience that allows consumers to easily access a multitude of programming options in one place,” says John Buffone, executive director, Connected Intelligence, NPD. “The next wave of TV app user, however is looking for a different experience than earlier adopters and is placing greater emphasis on TV everyone apps from their favorite networks.”
And if all of this isn’t already overwhelming to anyone trying to get a handle on what’s going in within the home video market, the ATSC is also already examining solutions beyond 2.0 specifications.
“Efforts are underway to develop ATSC 3.0. We encourage the adoption of standards that would benefit all television broadcasters, supporting and strengthening their ability to provide the services that viewers rely on each day to innovate; to better serve their communities, and to compete in a mobile world,” Smith said during his keynote. “As the ATSC addresses the challenges and opportunities of next-generation technologies, this is a crucial time for stakeholders to work together to ensure that broadcast TV’s one-to-many architecture successfully extends to emerging platforms.”
