IP video systems that can stream content to a multitude of devices will be a centerpiece of the CableLabs Summer Conference Aug. 9-12, with the event set to feature demos from vendors including Tandberg Television, Arris and BigBand Networks.
Tandberg will show the latest version of its OpenStream digital services platform, which is designed to let operators use their existing video-on-demand infrastructure to deliver content to multiple devices. For example, OpenStream supports VOD delivery to legacy MPEG-2 set-tops as well as MPEG-4 AVC set-top boxes.
In its demo at the CableLabs conference, Tandberg will show "session-shifting," allowing a subscriber to pause playback on a PC and resuming playback on a TV or iPhone.
"If you stop a movie at 3 minutes 33 second on your TV, when you pick up that rental on your iPhone, it should start at 3 minutes 33 seconds," Tandberg vice president of application software strategy Michael Adams said.
While some cable operators have started to build separate "silos" for delivering VOD and or other IP devices, Adams said the advantage of centralizing management on a platform like OpenStream is that it maintains existing interfaces to billing systems.
Arris, meanwhile, will demonstrate a solution for cable operators to deliver IP video from the headend to the home.
The Arris IPTV solution will stream on-demand content and interactive advertising from a single server and a single VOD advertising management system. The demo will use bonded DOCSIS 3.0 channels to distribute IPTV streams over an RF over glass (RFoG) optical network, and terminating at an IP set-top.
BigBand, for its part, also will demonstrate delivery of IPTV and Web video to multiple screens and devices using existing network infrastructure, using its Converged Video Exchange and vIP Pass systems. The demo will show traditional variable-bit-rate video to a legacy set-top box as well as a YouTube session to a PC, all in the same QAM channel.
The CableLabs Summer Conference 2009, at the Keystone Resort and Conference Center in Keystone, Colo., is open only to CableLabs members.
