TRACKING TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Set top box middleware

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:15

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications and a leader in set-top box ICs, has released the industry’s first validated drivers for OpenTV 5, the latest and most advanced set top box middleware from NAGRA, a Kudelski Group company.

The validated drivers provide a rapid porting platform enabling significantly shorter time to market for operators or OEMs deploying OpenTV 5 on any class of set-top box featuring ST’s current STi7105 andSTi7108 and also imminently on Orly, the latest-generation most-powerful broadband system-on-chip IC. Fast and customised network integration can be achieved easily with minimal customisation, enabling rapid project completion taking advantage of OpenTV’s open architecture and ecosystem plus support for advanced user interfaces.

The OpenTV 5 set top box middleware provides the core functions needed to support services from basic television to on-demand content and over-the-top (OTT) Internet video. Functions include support for standard television services, video/audio controls, PVR (Personal Video Recorder), security, home networking, advanced program guides and IP based services. Middlewares such as OpenTV 5, which fully leverages Linux, open standards and the latest chipset developments, reduce time to market while allowing service providers to control and rapidly customise the look and feel of their services and so remain independent of their equipment vendors.

OpenTV 5 significantly extends the role of the set-top box as the central home appliance for accessing TV, Internet and personal content. By taking maximum advantage of the hardware features of ST’s current and upcoming generation chipsets, OpenTV 5 enables developers to create highly differentiated end products. The ST chipset’s features include powerful video processing, 3D graphics for advanced user interfaces and gaming, hard-disk and USB connectivity, and are compatible with standards such as HTML5 and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) for content sharing supported by OpenTV 5.

The ST chipsets validated with drivers for OpenTV 5 are available with embedded NAGRA On-Chip Security (NOCS) which ensures the integrity of customer equipment by utilizing a hardware root of trust. ST’s NOCS-certified chips can be used with NAGRA Conditional Access (CA) and NAGRA Digital Rights Management (DRM) software to create a strong content-protection environment.

“As the first in the market to develop and validate drivers for OpenTV 5, ST is providing a valuable head start to enable customers to leverage the rich features, flexibility and robustness of this middleware in next-generation set-top box designs that will increase the broadcast Operator ARPU (Average Revenue Per User),” said Laurent Remont, General Manager for ST’s Connected Home Division.

“OpenTV 5 introduces groundbreaking advances at the middleware level, driving the set-top box significantly further towards its ultimate role as the central hub for accessing services and distributing content throughout the home. NAGRA’s close collaboration with ST has accelerated the development time and overall availability of OpenTV 5 on the market,” said Samir Mehta, Senior Vice President, Solutions Engineering R&D for NAGRA.

Using ST’s porting platform the two companies will provide the OpenTV 5 middleware pre-integrated with ST silicon early in 2012, allowing operators and set-top box OEMs to realise a significant reduction in overall time to market. ST Drivers source code are available free of charge, and can be deployed to legacy platforms by Over-The-Air (OTA) upgrade.

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