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SERVICES

Where is DVB-I being implemented?

Here we provide information about DVB-I services. Currently the focus is on trials and pilots. If you are aware of a DVB-I service that should be included here, please let us know via using the form on the front page.

In our Video Library you can find links to videos of DVB-I demonstrations.

Launched Q4 2023, following Mediaset PoC.

For this real market trial of DVB-I, open to any entity meeting the basic requirements, the first compatible TVs, branded Telefunken, are commercially available.

Dvb I Italy Market Trial
Overview of Italian DVB-I Market Trial

Broadcasters or service providers that participate must be holders of an authorized DTT (digital terrestrial television) LCN (logical channel number) for Italy.

Manufacturers must have successfully passed validation process according to Interoperability Point 2 in DVB BlueBook A177r5 and “DVB-I Market Trial in Italy – Baseline Requirements”.

DVB-I bollino

The trial has been used to develop the conditions for a new reference Italian “bollino” – or label – for the certification of receivers compliant to the requirements included in UHD Book 2.1, published in December 2023 by the HD Forum Italia.

This UHD Book 2.1 sets out the profile to which TV sets must comply in order to pass the certification process running in Italy. It introduces DVB-I, and related functionalities introduced in the HbbTV 2.0.4 specification, in alignment with Interoperability Point 2 of the DVB-I specification. Requiring TV sets to comply with the UHD Book guarantees for users that:

  • TV sets on the market behave as expected with respect to required functionalities.
  • Different TV set brands behave in a similar way.

UHD Book 2.1 is available online at Documenti – HD Forum Italia

As stated in the “Foreword (DVB-I related)” of the UHD Book:

“The conditions for the launch of a new “bollino” requiring DVB-I specs and testing, will be published after ruling definition by AGCOM on the matter. The market implementation will follow the standard “sunrise period” of 18 months.”

In January 2024, AGCOM is going to establish a technical table to discuss, among other topics, all aspects that must be addressed in order to create a sustainable ecosystem where different mediums (DVB-T/S/I) coexist, observing a well-defined set of rules.

See also:

Background information

The market trial builds on the Mediaset-led proof of concept (PoC) that had been running since late 2019.

Italy Timeline 2
Timeline of DVB-I activities in Italy

Mediaset began implementation of a DVB-I PoC to develop use cases for an end-to-end chain that complies fully with DVB-I and related standards. It was designed so that it could, in due course, evolve into a full commercial trial.

The PoC was managed by Mediaset, which also acted as a service provider. Over the course of the PoC, many Partners joined the activities, as illustrated below.

Italy Poc Overview
Mediaset DVB-I PoC

The above diagram shows:

  • the end-to-end testbed developed to fully test the entire chain;
  • the partners involved in the PoC;
  • the use cases implemented.

In parallel with the PoC and in collaboration with colleagues involved in the German DVB-I Pilot, results of the tests formed the basis of updates to the DVB-I specification. The July 2023 edition of the spec, DVB BlueBook A177r5, introduced “Interoperability Point 2”, which allows different markets to have a clear reference, avoiding market fragmentation.

PoC Phase 2

In parallel with the market trial, in Q4 2023 Mediaset initiated Phase 2 of its PoC to:

  • Test and profile new use cases;
  • Provide further input into the evolution of standards in DVB and HbbTV;
  • Provide new broadcasters and manufacturers interested in joining the Market Trial a valid test environment.

As for the original PoC, Phase 2 will be based on a flexible and proactive collaboration between all partners.

Contact

For more information on the Market Trial and the PoC Phase 2 contact Stefano Braghieri (stefano.braghieri@mediaset.it).

Updated: January 2024

Update (May 2023): Final report on Phase 1 published – English (PDF)German (PDF)

See also: Major pilot of DVB-I launched in Germany

Objectives

The pilot is a limited duration collaboration to develop a common understanding of the DVB-I functionality as well as a standardized future scenario to include the complete DVB-I ecosystem. Participants are broadcasters, TV manufacturers and software companies. The pilot will be launched at IBC2022. The objectives include: 

  • Develop a common, standardized future scenario
  • Demonstrate the potential of DVB-I
  • Demonstrate a vision for a national market scenario
  • Show technical cooperation between public service broadcasters and private broadcasters
  • Elaborate on solutions for DRM and subscription-based services business models and technical solutions for private content providers or platform operators
  • Identify technical gaps and requirements in the DVB-I standard
  • Gather experience with aggregation of service lists
  • Pave the way for a potential launch of DVB-I Services in Germany
  • Validate the user experience
Screenshot from 2023-08-03 13-44-10
The participants of the pilot (as of September 2023)

Target market

Germany

Pilot architecture and features

  • HbbTV is an integral part of our services today. DVB-I enables the integration of the entire HbbTV ecosystem with all services and accessibility features.
  • Solutions for DRM and subscription-based services in DVB-I service lists are demonstrated.
  • Extra available event channels can be added to the service list dynamically for the event duration.
  • Regionally different channel sorting can be offered on the basis of region-specific LCN tables. This way the viewer can be offered the locally appropriate channel as well as other locally relevant channels in prominent programme positions. The region selection can be made – if supported by the unit – by postcode entry or direct selection in the menu.
  • The EPG with link to the media libraries enables convenient and direct access to Video on Demand for missed, catch-up and pre-released programmes.
  • Playlists as channels combine videos from a genre such as news or curated formats such as Terra-X or WDR Retro into a linear service. It is also possible to navigate freely in the playlist.
  • Same as in the satellite bouquet, we also provide radio in DVB-I. The channels are enriched with informative VisualRadio applications for the big screen.
  • The pilot demonstrates a unified service list for the German market, as it could also be specified by a regulator.

Other features of the pilot

  • Hybrid services with DVB broadcast and MPEG-DASH, low latency HEVC streaming
  • Instance prioritization and fallback switching
  • Next Generation Audio / AC4
  • Service list aggregation & discovery via the Central Service Registry (CSR)
Service list and service list aggregator infrastructure

Receivers/clients

Official DVB-I reference application (developed by Sofia Digital), plus clients from Fraunhofer FOKUS, LG Electronics, OnScreen Publishing, SONY, TARA Systems, TP Vision (Philips) .

The national list is provided by an aggregator service from bmt. The terminals determine the correct list via the DVB reference CSR.

Future plans

Public available clients, user tests, extension of the service list with additional radio services and apps; general improvements; continued engagement with DVB CM-I, particularly around audio streaming.

Contact

For more information on the pilot contact Remo Vogel (dvb-i@rbb-online.de).

Updated: May 2023

Saorview DVB-I Proof of Concept

Saorview is the national DTT platform in Ireland, owned and managed by the public broadcaster RTÉ. Since early 2023, RTÉ has been running a proof of concept based on DVB-I, leveraging the reference application developed by Sofia Digital on behalf of the DVB Project.

Aims

  • Develop a next-generation platform strategy for Saorview
  • Meet audiences where they are (including on smartphones and tablets)
  • Leverage the increase in IP-based content distribution
  • Address future risks to DTT (potential reduction in available UHF spectrum)
  • Consider regulatory implications (e.g. around service prominence for public service media

Features demonstrated

  • Presentation of linear channels delivered over terrestrial and satellite broadcast and delivered via IP
  • Fallback from IP to broadcast and vice-versa if the network currently being used fails
  • Presentation of the RTÉ Player at its own spot in the EPG, allowing users to directly open the app from the EPG and play on-demand content
  • Presentation of radio stations from both DVB-T and IP
  • Display of simple EPG plus channel logos delivered over IP
  • Extending LCN (logical channel number) listings beyond those carried in DTT
Screenshot of the service list, showing integration of broadcast and IP channels

Next steps

RTÉ is monitoring the ongoing DVB-I trials and continuing engagement with device manufacturers. Engagement locally with the Irish regulatory bodies and more widely with the DVB-I community will allow RTÉ to work towards a possible small-scale pilot, adding some user testing.

See: EBU webinar presentation by Jim Higgins, RTÉ (May 2023)

Updated: June 2023

In April 2023, the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) undertook a public test of DVB-I under the auspices of the RTVE Chair at UPM.

A live event featured the first pilot of RTVE channels delivered using DVB-I linked to a digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcast. The event included a demonstration of the channel tuning procedure.

Other companies contributing to the initiative included Cellnex Telecom, Dolby, Sapec and the Televés Corporation, all of whom are on the advisory committee of the RTVE Chair at UPM. Receivers for the tests were supplied by Vestel, who provided development software with new DVB-I support running on current range of their production TV sets.

The pilot also made use of the DVB-I reference application to generate the service lists.

DVB-I signalled over DTT

For the event, a custom DTT multiplex was created by UPM engineers and broadcast in the local area on a temporary channel. The multiplex included a link to the DVB-I service list in the DTT service information tables, and the channels were automatically available to the user by simply pressing the EPG button on the remote control. It is believed that this was the first time a DVB-I service list had been signalled over the air in this way.

The service list shows a mix of standard definition DTT programmes, HD programmes and IP-delivered programmes (along with radio programmes)

The test was built around the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament, which was being broadcast on the tdp HD channel as a single feed. Thanks to DVB-I, users were able to select the coverage of any of the seven tennis courts through additional channels, allowing any match to be chosen without the use of an app. The user was shown eleven channels (four DTT plus seven delivered via the internet) through which they could navigate.

Find more information (in Spanish) on the RTVE website.

Updated: May 2023

IRIB R&D develops innovative new products and technologies in broadcasting and broadband delivery, laying the groundwork for future services from IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting).

The testing of DVB-I in the IRIB R&D laboratory began in March 2020. The goal of the pilot was the evaluation of DVB-I with regard to its feasibility and the potential benefits for IRIB. The pilot was completed in October 2020.

You can find more information about this pilot in the articles below:

Target market:

The pilot was available in the Tehran area. The user interface was in the Persian language.

Service lists and services:

IRIB created its own service list registry, within which was the service list used for this pilot. The service list contained 60 service instances, some as DVB-T, some as DVB-DASH and some with both types of delivery. MPEG-4 video coding was used.

Receivers/clients:

The trial was based on the official DVB-I reference application (developed by Sofia Digital). HbbTV receivers and Android TVs and smartphones were used.

Future plans:

Integrating all IRIB DVB-T/T2 and OTT services into the DVB-I service list and adding the client to the main IRIB HbbTV launcher. Also under study is the use of DVB-I for service discovery in 5G.