Dear iTV Doctor:
I hear that interactive television standards don't support High Definition. If that's true, with the explosion of HD sets, isn't iTV on a short path to obsolescence?
Perturbed Programmer
Dear Perturbed:
You've identified an important issue, because Standard-Definition iTV graphics in a High-Definition display are not going to meet the demands of the programmer or advertiser, nor the expectations of the consumer. Some developers are looking to solve the problem by carefully selecting graphics and fonts that will look presentable on both SD and HD. Some think that full-screen graphics (where you can't easily compare an HD video with SD graphics) are the answer. Others believe that an overlay that occupies only the middle (measured horizontally) of the screen will allow SD graphics to work in an HD display.
But to get the real skinny from one of the industry's most accomplished iTV platform and application providers, I turned your question over to Ellen Dudar, chief product officer of BIAP, Inc. Here's what Ellen has to say:
This is a great question, and let's begin with the simple answer: iTV standards do support High Definition, and of course advanced HD boxes and sets can display interactivity built for the standard-definition footprint. So all boxes will function. Now let's talk about what needs to happen to build applications that take advantage of the graphically rich capabilities of advanced set-top boxes.
There are three aspects to supporting HD applicat
ions: the ability to define HD resolutions, the ability to render high-quality images, and the ability for application developers to tailor the look-and-feel of an application for different platforms. These areas require support from CableLabs ETV standards, development tools, and run-time execution platforms.
The CableLabs ETV-EBIF spec gets a check mark on each of these areas. The spec allows developers to define the Application Authored Graphics Resolution, supports color-rich PNG images, and defines a mechanism for delivering and loading platform-specific resources in a platform section.
On the tools front, iTV programmers need an authoring environment that allows them to specify the graphics resolution of application page resources, and support the creation of platform sections to accommodate both SD and HD graphics planes. The same goes for prebuilt templated solutions: the templates and tailoring tools should support high-res resources and display them appropriately at run-time. There are tools available today with these features supported.
Lastly, the run-time environment--i.e. the EBIF User Agent--must support the three HD building blocks. The major User Agent suppliers support high-quality PNG images and the platform sections, but not all allow for applications to set the graphics resolution. While great progress has been made by the industry in rallying around EBIF, there's still work to do in implementing the full standard. This work includes the vendor community and the technology arms of major MSO's to move EBIF forward in a standardized fashion beyond the lowest common denominator, which is set by limitations of existing low-end boxes.
For networks building applications today, I recommend building them to accommodate both SD and HD and let the deployed User Agents deliver the applications to the best of their ability. This approach maximizes the user experience to the greatest possible extent, and this extent will improve over time as the User Agents implement the full EBIF standard. BIAP's User Agent, deployed in several smaller MSO's since July 2008 and contracted by Time Warner Cable, supports these HD features.
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The iTV Doctor is Rick Howe, who provides interactive television consulting services to programmers and advertisers. He is the recipient of a CTAM Tami Award for retention marketing and this year was nominated to Cable Pioneers. He is also the co-author of a patent for the use of multiscreen mosaics in EPG's. Endorsed by top cable and satellite distributors, "Dr" Howe still makes house calls, and the first visit is always free. His services include product development, distribution strategy and the development of low-cost interactive applications for rapid deployment across all platforms.
Have a question for the iTV Doctor? Email him at itvdoctor@itvt.com
