# TiVo Chooses Wipros DVB-T Middleware to Build HD DVRs



## fallingditch (Dec 4, 2004)

Digital TV News reports:
"BANGALORE, India  Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) today announced that TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), has adopted Wipros DVB-T and Common Interface (CI) software stacks for its solutions targeting Australian and European markets."

I have no idea what the significance of this announcement is ...


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Clearly means there's a HD TiVo on the way for the UK  Hopefully in time for Christmas....


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

Nah, it has CI - the UK doesn't do that  It's a Swedish TiVo, I'm telling you


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## TCM2007 (Dec 25, 2006)

Doesn't Top Up TV and Setanta use CI?


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

I thought they used boxes with built in encryption, rather than a separate CI module?


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

I can't think of a Freeview box with a CI slot - although nearly all tv's do take them.


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## eric23 (Jan 15, 2002)

No, but satellite boxes are another matter... I would pay £400 for a HD FreeSat TiVo.


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## verses (Nov 6, 2002)

ozsat said:


> I can't think of a Freeview box with a CI slot - although nearly all tv's do take them.


My Netgem iPlayer has a slot on the side, now my ignorance will start to show here, but I've no idea whether it's a CI slot or what it is, but it's described as being able to take a CAM which I believe allows it to be used for TopUp TV.

Searching for "DVBCI" on this page mentions the slot. Also searching for "TopUp" describes it being used for TopUp TV. So I assume it is a CI slot.

I don't know of any current models that have them, but I've never looked 

Cheers,

Ian


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## Tim L (Jan 5, 2002)

kitschcamp said:


> Nah, it has CI - the UK doesn't do that  It's a Swedish TiVo, I'm telling you


A Swivo?

Bork bork bork!


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## Sneals2000 (Aug 25, 2002)

kitschcamp said:


> I thought they used boxes with built in encryption, rather than a separate CI module?


Like ITV/ONDigital - they use both.

If you want TUTV/Setanta on your IDTV you can get a CAM and card to plug into the CI slot (which all IDTVs must have AIUI), and Hauppauge now do a USB CAM-reader/CI-Slot interface bundled with a Setanta CAM and card for footy on a PC.

There ARE boxes with integrated CAMs in software (like the Pace DTVA after it had the OTA upgrade) as well.


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## Sneals2000 (Aug 25, 2002)

What I think we can say is that whatever box this is being used in, it isn't a UK HD Tivo.

The UK is going DVB-T2 for HD, not DVB-T... The BBC are currently running the first proper live tests of DVB-T2 from a real transmitter (using BBC designed modulators and demodulators) in Guildford.

It is carrying 3x11Mbs H264 1080/50i HD video streams (using a new Thomson encoder - and delivering higher quality video than the 16.5Mbs BBC HD on DSat...) in a 36Mbs DVB-T2 mux (32k carriers and 256QAM rather than 2k/8k carriers and 16/64QAM as used by DVB-T)

No production silicon exists for DVB-T2 receivers yet - but the Beeb / Ofcom are hoping that manufacturers will have chipsets available in time for the launch when Granada has DSO in late 2009, which is also when other DSO regions will switch from the 6xDVB-T to 5xDVB-T 1xDVB-T2 model... (Mux B - the second BBC Mux - becomes PSB Mux 3 and switches from DVB-T to DVB-T2, and carries 3 HD streams - one from the BBC and two from ITV/C4/Five - TBA I think who gets the licenses for that)

(At the same time Muxes 1 - and possibly C and D - should switch to 8k 64QAM 24Mbs from 2k 16QAM 18Mbs, and Mux 2 and A should switch from 2k 64QAM 24Mbs to 8k 64QAM 24Mbs - rendering a lot of early receivers obsolete in those regions...)


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## Sneals2000 (Aug 25, 2002)

fallingditch said:


> Digital TV News reports:
> "BANGALORE, India - Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) today announced that TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ:TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), has adopted Wipro's DVB-T and Common Interface (CI) software stacks for its solutions targeting Australian and European markets."
> 
> I have no idea what the significance of this announcement is ...


Suspect it means Tivo are looking for a general platform for DVB-T based Tivos, which these days means support for CI/CAMs and both SD and HD MPEG2 and H264. (Well MPEG2 HD is only required for Aus AIUI)

UK uses DVB-T and MPEG2 for SD, with soon DVB-T2 and H264 for HD.
Aus uses DVB-T and MPEG2 for SD and HD.
New Zealand uses DVB-T and H264 for SD and HD.
Sweden uses DVB-T and H264 for HD, with MPEG2 for SD, as does France I believe? (Hear rumblings Sweden may run a SFN VHF mux in DVB-T2 for nationwide HD?)
Norway and Ireland are using DVB-T and H264 for SD.

Sweden, Norway, Ireland and many other DVB-T territories are also running encrypted as well as FTA services, so CAM support is required for full platform support.

The more interesting question is whether Tivo are going to support MHEG5 (and which country profiles) and/or MHP and/or WST and/or DVB subtitles - as these are all country variations with DVB-T implementation.

Also useful to know if they will support AAC, Dolby Digital and MPEG Layer 2 audio - as these are all variants as well...

It COULD mean that Tivo are going for a generic - DVB-T Tivo - to market across Aus and Europe? CI Slot for those countries with OTA pay-TV services, which is just unused if sold in a FTA-only territory?

If they can make it suitably universal (support for all video and audio codecs, decent support for the various subtitling and interactive front-ends etc.) AND integrate the downloaded EPG with an OTA EPG (as Vista TV Pack now does - allowing the rich metadata of a downloaded EPG to co-exist with the dynamic updates and record triggers of an OTA EPG) then it could be a great system.

(It they manage to do a DVB-T2 model - I'd buy one in 2012...)


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