Hardware and software provide digital TV platform

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Apr 22, 2002

Philips is to make it easier for manufacturers to support the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting by launching an integrated silicon-and-software enabling solution.

Philips is to make it easier for consumer electronics manufacturers to support the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting by launching an integrated silicon-and-software enabling solution for interactive digital television sets, based on the Multimedia Home Platform open standard.

Philips and other TV manufacturers will apply Intelligent Bolt-On Plus (IBO+), a complete Philips semiconductor and middleware solution comprising an implementation of the Nexperia digital video platform and the Euphoria MHP software package.

This combination will enable Philips and other TV manufacturers to add MHP functionality to their ranges as MHP-based services are progressively launched around the world.

By significantly reducing development time and cost, IBO+ will help accelerate product creation: this ready-to-install solution contains all the technology required to design, make and launch digital televisions based on the MHP standard, including the possibility of offering Internet browsing and e-mail via the TV set.

"Philips is playing a leading role in the development of MHP as the standard for interactive digital television, says Guy Demuynck, Senior Vice President, Royal Philips Electronics and CEO, Philips Consumer Electronics.

"This integrated solution extends that role further by bringing together our collective expertise in semiconductors and digital video applications.

Combined, Nexperia and Euphoria offer us the perfect solution to lead the move from analogue to digital television".

Philips' Nexperia platform offers a range of semiconductor solutions (hardware and software IP blocks) that share a common design approach, while the features of each product are optimised for the target market.

While standards, technologies and applications for the consumer market are constantly developing, Nexperia relies on design architecture and IP re-use - not re-inventing the wheel every time a new system needs to be designed.

The exceptional performance of the Nexperia platform makes it ideally suited for digital TV decoding applications such as MHP, with state-of-the-art picture processing, interactivity and broadband streaming.

One of the first examples of this will be its use in Philips' first MHP-based integrated digital TV sets.

The commonality between the IP blocks minimises time to market and reduces design costs, whilst the product optimisations allow the lowest possible unit cost.

The Euphoria software platform comprises the latest version of Philips' MHP middleware stack, ensuring full compliance with the MHP 1.0.2 specification, in particular content security requirements and interoperability with other A/V appliances.

A suite of resident applications for device installation, setup and management, electronic service guide and remote control operation provide essential functionality, differentiation and customisation to MHP-compatible consumer electronics products destined for digital video broadcast terrestrial markets.