--Launches New Software for HDTV Sets
Bristol, UK-based digital TV software provider, Ocean Blue, has launched a new, free-to-use application which it says will allow digital TV developers using the MHEG standard to design more compelling applications for HDTV. According to the company, MHEGHD Demo, as the new app is called, allows developers to see how their applications will look to viewers, thus enabling them to ensure that their designs are as user-friendly as possible. The new app is based on an advanced, HD-supporting version of the MHEG standard that Ocean Blue says will provide "an even greater wealth of information and services" for TV viewers, such as games, news, bulletin boards, EPG's and support services. "MHEG-HD Demo is an invaluable tool for developers of interactive TV because it lets them see and work with the full range of new functionalities that the new HD standard will provide," Ocean Blue CEO, Ken Helps, said in a prepared statement. "This application is going to enable developers to design the richest, most compelling and consumer-friendly digital TV applications, as well as being a significant aid for the industry's seamless advance into MHEG-HD." The new app is intended to complement Ocean Blue's Voyager MHEG-5 software (note: MHEG-5 is the standard, mandated middleware technology for receivers for the UK's free-to-air digital terrestrial service, Freeview). Ocean Blue says it is working with the Digital Television Group to finalize the new specification for HD support functions within MHEG-5 and that it is fully supporting the new DTG MHEG standards across its product range.
In other Ocean Blue news: The company has launched a new "Sunrise" range of software for HD television sets, which it says offers USB support, features built-in power-saving functionality, and enables viewers for the first time to receive HD, digital and analog transmissions on a single internal chipset within an LCD or plasma TV (versus the multiple chips currently in use). The company claims that combining multiple broadcast types and functions on a single chip will also cut development time and reduce hardware and software costs for the next generation of HDTV sets. "High definition will be the hottest broadcast technology of 2009 and the single chipset solution for televisions will be the panacea," Ocean Blue's Helps said in a prepared statement. "Standards such as DVB-T2 have only been finalized this summer. Ocean Blue is working closely with the semiconductor industry to produce the hardware and software solution that will power the new generation of televisions, which will also be more energy-efficient."
According to Ocean Blue, the new Sunrise software allows channel tuning for both analog and digital to be accomplished through the same user interface, thus making for a better user experience across multiple broadcast signals. It will also enable an easy dual set-up process for integrated digital TV sets via a single user interface, the company says. Other features include a capability, dubbed Sunrise ECO-TV, which monitors TV sets' standby power consumption and activates functions in the new generation of chipsets that enable those devices to be switched into an energy-saving mode. The new software is billed as supporting DVB-T (terrestrial), DVB-S (satellite) and DVB-H (handheld) devices.
