The advent of high definition and MPEG4 technology is causing problems in the deployment of IPTV (Internet protocol TV) for larger operators, according to Cambridge-based IPTV software specialist Amino.
"The trouble is the technology is not static, so just when they think they’ve solved one round of problems the goalposts get moved," said Paul Fellows, chief technology officer for Amino. "If they don’t manage to get to market quickly they find the goalposts keep changing."
According to Fellows, "hospitality" private deployments and tier three operators are rolling out now, with tier two just starting, but tier one is still struggling with infrastructure.
However, current deployments are using standard definition (SD) and the MPEG2 digital broadcasting encoding standard. Fellows said the first high definition (HD) IPTV system has been deployed, but this also uses MPEG2 which has higher bandwidth demands than MPEG4.
"You’ve got a mixture of people willing to invest in infrastructure to the extent that bandwidth is not a problem, in which case they can go with MPEG2 HD," said Fellows. "And other people saying ‘MPEG4 is just around the corner let’s wait a bit for that technology to mature and then go for it’. The challenge now is to do HD MPEG4, which I think will be the end game for most people."
Amino recently signed an agreement to combine its software stack for IPTV set-top boxes with ST’s ST7100 family of semiconductors.
"Many other hardware manufacturers will be looking at using ST’s chips and so to have our software as part of the ST reference design is great news," said Fellows.
www.aminocom.com