Anybody got a list of the commercially available MHP middleware implementations that are out there
Here's what I know of sofar
- Osmosys
- Alticast
- IDWAY (I would like to hear any experiences with this)
- IRT (Is this on any commercial boxes?)
- Convergence (Out of business)
Best regards
Thor
hi thor,
try this link:
http://www.mhpkdb.org/publ/mhp-kdb_d1-ver-2.pdf
(Report documenting the current situation of MHP usage)
Page 43-46. The Report is from July 2005, therefore not 100% up to date. I also detected some minor errors, e.g. the Nokia 310S isn't produced anymore as well as Fujitsu-Siemens Activy 300.
K.Lauer
Add NDS and OpenTV to the list.
NDS recently signed a deal with Philips to provide middleware for Philips boxes (http://www.press.ce.philips.com/apps/c_dir/e3379701.nsf/0/74D83A93D28671F8C1257076004848CD?opendocument) . OpenTV have an MHP module for their middleware, but I'm not sure if anyone is actually using it at the moment.
Steve.
One remarkable addition to the list:
Technotrend (www.technotrend.com) offers a MHP-Browser for their Premium-DVB-PCI-cards under Windows (W98-XP), based on the IRT's reference implementation. As far as i know the only MHP-implementation under Windows for consumers, fast and stable, i've seen it on a fair (Anga Cable).
The link to the product (in german, sorry)
http://shop.technotrend.de/shop.php?mode=show_detail&lang=de&group=3&sid=c589891f343c4bc8fd2177af2d305444&s=&id=13
K.Lauer
In MHP, the strongest market presence depends on which market you're talking about.
The strongest MHP market presence in Italy is almost certainly Osmosys although Alticast, NDS and idWay (at least) are also in the market there.
The strongest MHP market presence for digital satellite in Korea is Alticast as they were selected as the monopoly middleware supplier by the operator.
The strongest MHP market presence for digital cable in Belgium is Osmosys since they were similarly selected as the monopoly middleware supplier by the operator.
Thanks so much for the list. Do you know who leads the OCAP area, is it Vidiom? With ADB acquiring Vidiom, do you see them leading the middleware industry in both spaces?
What about Opentv and Zentek, what you think about them?
I am new to this and am trying to identify where the market is moving, its quiet confusing right now.
All the MHP implementers do indeed compete in iDTV middleware.
Osmosys, Alticast, NDS, idway, ... all make MHP implementations. In some markets they compete for orders from a controlling operator (e.g. Skylife in Korea, Telenet in Belgium). In other markets (e.g. Italy) different products including their software compete for consumer purchases. Of course the consumer probably doesn't know or care whose middleware is inside.
OpenTV is different - they have their own non-MHP middleware.
PS All threads die once there's nothing new worth adding.
Dear Desperado
Many thanks for that...as is probably apparent, i'm new to this area and trying to build a rough map of how the parts fit together, so would you know where http://www.zentek.com/ fits in? I believe they produce middleware for all standards: MHP, ATSC and ARIB (Japan)... and that OpenTV uses their middleware...
tks
Salamander
I've heard rumours of Zentek having an MHP implementation but I'm not aware of it having been deployed anywhere. It's not known to be in Italy or in any of the European MHP payTV systems.
There were press releases that OpenTV was licensing an MHP stack from Alticast which would somehow be integrated with OpenTV's own middleware to make a single solution supporting both kinds of application. Then everything went quiet.
aha! right, i've now read a bit more and i think Zentek mostly puts their middleware directly into Digital TVs rather than STBs and works mainly with the Japanese ARIB/ISDB standard (rather than MHP)...Although i believe Zentek also does have middleware offerrings for both MHP and ATSC - in fact, i think OpenTV uses Zentek's MediaMaster product
