The combination of broadcast and broadband (hybrid) technologies for delivering TV related media contents can bring fascinating opportunities. It is motivated by the large amount and diversity of media contents, together with the ubiquity and multiple connectivity capabilities of modern consumption devices. This paper presents an end-to-end platform for the preparation, delivery and synchronized consumption of related hybrid (broadcast/broadband) media contents on a single device and/or on multiple close-by devices (i.e., a multi-device scenario). It is compatible with the latest version of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) standard (version 2.0.1). Additionally, it provides adaptive and efficient solutions for key issues not specified in that standard, but that are necessary to successfully deploy hybrid and multi-device media services. Moreover, apart from MPEG-DASH and HTML5, which are the broadband technologies adopted by HbbTV, the platform also provides support for using HLS and RTP/RTCP broadband technologies. The presented platform can provide support for many hybrid media services. In this paper, in order to evaluate it, the use case of multi-device and multi-view TV service has been selected. The results of both objective and subjective assessments have been very satisfactory, in terms of performance (stability, smooth playout, delays and sync accuracy), usability of the platform, usefulness of its functionalities, and the awaken interest in these kinds of platforms.

The combination of broadcast and broadband (hybrid) technologies for delivering TV related media contents is already a reality. It has been motivated by the large amount and diversity of media contents, together with the ubiquity and multiple connectivity capabilities of modern consumption devices. The use of connected TVs and companion devices (e.g., tablets, smartphones…) is gaining momentum. It enables personalized and enriched TV media experiences, by also exploiting social communication opportunities. Likewise, the media consumption paradigm is worldwide evolving from passive and isolated consumer experiences towards interactive and group shared experiences between remote consumers. Nevertheless, despite the specification of standards, such as Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV), and the efforts from operators and content providers in the last years, the adoption of hybrid TV media services in Europe is still not as high as expected. This paper presents the concept and some examples of hybrid TV media services, emphasizing the importance of including a combination of media synchronization solutions, known as hybrid sync, to guarantee a satisfactory level of Quality of Experience (QoE). Additionally, it includes the summary and discussion of the results of a research study focused on more than 1000 Spanish users' habits, preferences and expectations regarding four representative hybrid TV media services. Many valuable insights and conclusions have been derived. For instance, the current low market adoption of hybrid TV media services, despite their advantages and the high interest of consumers, and that key technological challenges still need to be overcome. The obtained results and impressions foresee the impact (or potential) of such services in the upcoming TV related media consumption landscape. Therefore, devising proper standard-compliant technological solutions (paying special attention to hybrid sync) and equipment should be continued producing appropriate contents, deploying proper hybrid TV media services and applications. As well, it should be convenient to undertake marketing and commercial efforts to boost their deployment. The contributions of this study can be very valuable to the interested agents to be aware of the remaining challenges, envisage the opportunities, and drive their efforts to maximize the market adoption of such services.

Inter-Destination Media Synchronization (IDMS) is a key requirement to enable successful networked shared media experiences between remote users. This paper presents an adaptive, accurate and standard-compliant IDMS solution for hybrid broadcast and broadband delivery. Apart from providing multi-and cross-technology support, the presented IDMS solution is able to accomplish synchronization when different formats/versions of the same, or even related, contents are being played out in a shared session. It is also able to independently manage the playout processes of different groups of users. The IDMS solution has been integrated within an end-to-end platform, which is compatible with the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) standard. It has been applied to Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) technology and tested for a Social TV scenario, by also including an ad-hoc chat tool as an interaction channel. The results of the conducted (objective and subjective) evaluations prove the statisfactory behavior and performance of the IDMS solution and platform as well as in terms of the perceived Quality of Experience (QoE).

No abstract

No abstract