Spain’s Abertis Telecom and Nagra have teamed up with Harmonic in what is expected to be the world’s first commercial deployment of MPEG-DASH (the standards-based adaptive streaming protocol supporting multiple DRM systems via common encryption), as well as the first deployment of HbbTV 1.5.
The cloud-based OTT video service for broadcasters and pay-TV service providers offered jointly by Abertis and Nagra is already used by Spanish broadcasters for HbbTV-based services and will be enhanced with MPEG-DASH and HbbTV 1.5.
As part of a fully integrated multiscreen system it will use Harmonic’s ProMedia suite and Nagra MediaLive to provide the cloud service with an integrated video infrastructure capable of delivering high-quality OTT applications, including live, VoD and time-shifting, to TVs, PCs, tablets, smartphones, set-top boxes and other IP-connected devices.
Nagra and Harmonic have worked closely to define and implement the necessary interfaces between Harmonic’s video processing and Nagra’s master DRM key server, so that the service can simultaneously protect content with multiple digital rights management systems, including Nagra PRM, Microsoft PlayReady, and Marlin.
The cloud service can support a broad range of connected devices while reducing total cost of ownership. The end-to-end Nagra solution includes the flexible MediaLive Service Platform for digital asset management and service delivery; digital rights management (Nagra PRM); Nagra Media Player, to securely deliver services to open devices; and the MediaLive “Ninja” Client Framework, a flexible cross-device application framework that accelerates the deployment of services to multiple connected devices.
“With this MPEG-DASH and HbbTV 1.5 deployment, Nagra and Harmonic continue to lead the industry in supporting innovative television services,” said Jean-Michel Puiatti, vice president, multiscreen products for Nagra. “The multi-DRM support provided by Nagra MediaLive Multiscreen simplifies the encryption of video content to multiple devices and lowers capital and operating costs for service providers.”
Harmonic’s software-based ProMedia family of video preparation and processing systems is used to streamline the delivery of the new OTT service. ProMedia performs a broad range of processing and streaming tasks, such as capture, transcoding, packaging, and origin server functions. It can scale to support hundreds of simultaneous streams, simplifying the deployment of the live OTT service.
“As a member of the DASH Industry Forum and recent participant in the first live, public MPEG-DASH trial at the London Olympic Games with European broadcaster VRT, Harmonic is excited to continue its support of the industry’s premiere standard for streaming multimedia over the Internet. By launching the world’s first OTT service supporting MPEG-DASH, Abertis Telecom and Nagra are breaking new ground and helping to build the future of multiscreen delivery,” commented Thierry Fautier, senior director, convergence solutions, Harmonic. – David Fox.
www.abertistelecom.com
www.harmonicinc.com
www.nagra.com/dtv
