08/30/2007 — IBC 2007: IRT Solutions for more variety in the TV world

The IRT showcases research results and product highlights in the fields of IPTV, HDTV, Mobile TV and MXF as soon as DAB and modern network technologies at four booths during the IBC 2007 in Amsterdam, September 7 - 11, 2007. Besides the main presence in hall 10, IRT additionally supports the EBU Village, the New Technology Campus, and the WorldDMB Pavilion.

IRT, hall 10, booth 659:

IRT is presenting a complete IPTV service chain. Essential part is IRT's IPTV Metadata Server which provides all necessary metadata information to run IPTV services compatible to the DVB-IP standard. The PC-based system delivers all required service discovery and selection records and EPG data for broadcast content guides. It integrates with IRT’s DVB Playout Server, a powerful standalone and lowcost PC-playout solution for broadcasting and testing of SD- and HD-DVB services, a full IPTV server system for both A/V-streaming and metadata support. For reception of IPTV services IRT has integrated SD&S functionalities in its renowned decoder middleware M4iTV.

IRT showcases a complete HD-chain from play-out to display (720p50 and 1080i25 sequences) for professional evaluation of the performance of various HD-encoders. IRT has major experience in the creation of sequences for various kinds of sampling formats (e.g. 1080i25, 1080p24, 1080p25, 720p50), in the conversion to various fileformats, their application to display technology, and encoding of audio/video for MPEG 2, H.264 and Dolby AC3. These streams can be used or modified for testing and stressing encoders or set-top-boxes in practical scenarios.

Thanks to its broad know-how IRT is able to offer customer specific testing and validation services in the area of the whole HDTV production, contribution and broadcast chain, including cascading of involved equipment.

Furthermore, IRT is demonstrating the DAB/DMB Scout Server. The Scout Server is a solution for continuously monitoring a DAB-based ensemble (including DMB content) in a local network. Well-known services like TPEG and EPG will be shown as well as the new Dynamic Label plus service which allows tagging of certain audio content with metadata for programme selection or recording.

In the area of TV production IRT shows with its MXF Analyser Professional a unique library for analysis of MXF-files with respect to standards conformance, and conformance to application parameters such as operational pattern, essence container constraints or payload formats.

Video Journalists connected & HDTV Service Channel
EBU Village in hall 10, booth 411:

Adding mobile video journalists (VJ) to the broadcasters’ workflow leads to new possibilities but also to new difficulties and dangers – which are took into account by IRT’s demonstration showing a complete VJ contribution chain. The chain reaches from the editor in the field, creating A/V essence and sending it via various, secured (VPN) IP networks into the broadcaster's LAN, to the merging and provisioning of the essence and metadata into local databases and production systems. Due to our multifaceted demonstration, surely everybody will find the latest broadcaster-related topics around networks (MiMo-WiFi, WiMAX…), measurement, IT-security, and also IRT’s engineers as competent consulting and solution partners.

Whilst the permanent simulcast of HDTV and SDTV during the introduction phase of HDTV is not efficient for services mostly still showing only SD-generated content, an HDTV service channel which is time-shared amongst several SDTV services allows for graceful and cost-efficient introduction of HDTV. Corresponding signalling allows an HD-capable set-top box to automatically switch to the joint service channel whenever an event is broadcast in HD without detracting the consumer’s attention from the linear programme offered by a broadcaster. A complete end-to-end solution including various aspects for EPG-implementation is demonstrated.

porTiVity project – Interaction with moving objects on mobile TV
New Technology Campus booth 6006:

porTiVity (porTable interactiVity), an EU-sponsored project, is exploring new methods of user interactivity with moving objects on portable TV, objects for which the user can request supplementary information. PorTiVity makes use of and supports international standards such as DVB-H and MPEG LASeR. Interactivity with moving objects is based on dynamic metadata in MPEG 7 format which defines the location and size of objects via a timeline. For viewers, simply touching the desired object opens up a multimedia world of additional information consisting of text, images, audio, and video clips.

Demonstration of the DAB service family with IRT’s DAB/DMB Scout Server
WorldDMB Pavilion in hall 5, booth 139:

IRT is demonstrating the Scout Server with well-known services like DMB, TPEG and EPG as well as the absolute new service Dynamic Label plus which allows tagging of certain audio content with metadata for programme selection or recording.