CableLabs Gets Tool to Test Switched Video for TiVos
Consulting Firm Solekai Delivers SDV Simulation Software
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 2/7/2008 12:41:00 PM
CableLabs is ready to kick the tires on a "tuning resolver" the industry created to let TiVo digital video recorders and other one-way cable-ready consumer electronics access switched digital video channels.
Solekai Systems, an engineering services company specializing in digital video products, said Thursday it has delivered to CableLabs the first version of a PC-based tool to test out the devices.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association committed to developing the tuning resolver in August, after legislators raised concerns that switched digital video would make programming inaccessible to TiVos and other third-party consumer electronics.
Last fall, major cable operators said they plan to offer the SDV tuning resolvers -- which are expected to be the size of a small digital set-top box -- to TiVo customers in the second quarter of 2008. Switched digital video allows operators to free up bandwidth, by delivering linear TV channels only when subscribers in a service group request them.
Engineers from Solekai's engineering center in Boulder, Colo., worked with CableLabs to develop the first version of the Tuning Resolver Interface Simulator (TRIS).
“We at CableLabs are encouraged by the flexibility this tool offers to allow us to validate the interfaces between UDCP [unidirectional digital cable products] and tuning resolver devices, and ultimately provide UDCP devices with the ability to access switched digital video services in the field,” CableLabs vice president of advanced media platforms So Vang said, in a prepared statement.
The TRIS tool is designed to test both the tuning resolver and advanced features of a DVR. CableLabs will use the software in its testing and will license it to any interested parties. Solekai will continue to support, modify or enhance the tool for licensees as requested.
Specifications for the tuning resolver were developed by cable operators in collaboration with CableLabs, TiVo, Motorola, Scientific Atlanta, BigBand Networks and C-COR (now part of Arris).
The NCTA and CableLabs have said the device will work with any one-way cable-ready product with a USB connector and has been updated with the necessary firmware.
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