Product category:
Embedded Software and Operating Systems
News Release from: Cabot Communications | Subject: Aurora
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 15 September 2004
DTV middleware stack covers all European
markets
Aurora is billed as the first complete, turnkey open standards-based DVB middleware stack for free-to-air digital terrestrial and satellite receivers.
Aurora is billed as the first complete, turnkey open standards-based DVB middleware stack for free-to-air digital terrestrial and satellite receivers Available on 15 different semiconductor platforms, the pre-integrated stack allows manufacturers to build devices that meet the transmission requirements of every European DTT network and interactive standard, including MHEG-5 and MHP, in previously unachievable timescales
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 13 May 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Vestel has developed a new generic digital video recorder using Cabot's Aurora middleware stack and ST Microelectronics' new 5100 MPEG2 decoder.
DVB core enables digital video recording
Cabot Communications has added the Gemini advanced DVB core to its Aurora Solutions pan-European DVB middleware portfolio.
The Aurora middleware is pre-integrated onto a range of hardware platforms and can be configured to meet the unique market requirements of any country so manufacturers no longer need to invest time or money in the development of multiple model variants.
Instead, they can concentrate efforts on differentiating features such as the design, user interface and interactive services, in order to bring to market competitive devices that meet the increasing demand for digital TV.
Datamonitor predicts that by 2008, 59% of European households will have made the transition to digital TV.
Further reading
User interface options aid DTV customisation
Cabot Communications has introduced new user interface (UI) designs into Aurora, its pan-European DVB middleware stack for free-to-air digital terrestrial and satellite receivers.
DVB middleware works with pay-TV stack
The award-winning Aurora pan-European DVB middleware suite is pre-integrated with the Conax embedded conditional access (CA) stack.
Digital TV software gets a tick
Cabot Communications has successfully completed MHEG-5 1.06 testing for its Mercator MHEG5 plug-in and Aurora DVB middleware solution.
As a pre-integrated stack, the complexity and effort of integrating point solutions is avoided; Aurora can easily integrate onto most standard semiconductor reference platforms.
Aurora is designed and tested to work in every European DTT environment, and so a single platform can be deployed across Europe.
The optimised architecture and plug-in integration means that user sensitive performance functions such as channel change and interactivity run at the highest speeds.
As new lower cost and higher performance silicon platforms are introduced, Aurora can be quickly ported to new hardware platforms.
Aurora's Chamaeleon reference UI is fully featured and supports multiple languages and country configurations, so OEMs can develop one UI and re-use it for every market in Europe And using Aurora with Cabot's Observatory PC Development Studio allows manufacturers to build, test and simulate customised DVB software applications within greatly reduced timescales.
"The cost of competing for market share in Europe's rapidly growing digital TV market can be prohibitive for many manufacturers".
"Cabot is committed to providing the tools that they need in order to provide a fast response to customer demand that will enable them to gain a competitive edge and bring innovative products to the market in record times", comments Keith Potter, Managing Director of Cabot Communications.
A spokesperson for JVC Europe said: "We welcome the continuing Cabot product leadership, enabling JVC to bring feature-rich set-top boxes and iDTVs to market and deploy one model across multiple markets".
"Aurora enables us to address the issues caused by diversity in the pan-European market".
Aurora's unique scalable architecture is built around the Cabot Eclipse DVB Core and supports Cabot's Mercator MHEG-5 interactive engine, Hercules common interface, Callisto over-air download plug-ins and Alticast's Alticaptor MHP.
The turnkey DVB middleware supports 7-day EPG, subtitles, teletext, multiple-languages, connection to analogue CRT and DVD recorder modules and is compliant with the UK DTG D-Book, ETSI E-Book, Scandinavian Nordig, Italian DGTVi D-Book, German and Australian receiver specifications.
Potter adds: "Using Aurora, manufacturers of digital devices can implement just one middleware TV stack to address all the complex requirements of the diverse European digital TV market".
"This significant industry first will enable Cabot to extend its market leadership position in the UK to other European markets and position the company firmly at the forefront of the digital TV revolution in Europe".
Aurora is available now, pre-integrated on more than 15 semiconductor platforms.
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