Exhibition “TV Connect 2014”: focus on the quality of television and development of functionality

On March 18–20, this year, London hosted a TV and media technology and equipment exhibition/conference, “TV Connect 2014,” that attracted over 8 thousand visitors from more than 80 countries. The main highlights of this year’s exhibition were video quality, television content, and data security.

Specialists of the group of companies “Penki kontinentai” who visited the event took an interest in TV market developments and opportunities for installing the latest solutions for the customers of fiber-optic network “Skynet.” “Penki kontinentai” is one of the first companies in Lithuania that started installing IP (Internet Protocol) television.

According to Stanislav Venckievič, the company’s IPTV Product Manager who visited “TV Connect 2014”, one of the topics that received much attention from the participants was the video quality and video data transmission. “Resolution of TV sets is improving faster than TV content; therefore, those who switch on, for example, HD TV set sometimes are unable to enjoy an exceptional quality of television. However, TV broadcasters are not simply looking for ways to ensure higher video quality; they also think about its delivery to the end-user. Given that the current video compression technology is not sufficiently effective to transmit data of particularly high-quality, one of the possible solutions is the new video data compression standard High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) H.265”, says S. Venckievič.

At the exhibition, much attention was dedicated to TV content as well. “Developers of smart TV are offering more and more solutions to expand TV functionality and create a personal space on the TV set, i.e., to make a list of favorite channels or shows, reminders of the shows that you want to see, ability to record the desired show and watch it at any convenient time, receive additional information about the show you are currently watching. For example, when watching a football game, you can click on the appropriate menu item and obtain additional information about the athletes. Moreover, you can share this information with your friends via e-mail or social networks”, comments S. Venckievič.

However, according to the expert, the expansion of television’s boundaries and capabilities does not diminish the importance of content security. “As IPTV developers, we are interested in the latest data flow analysis and quality assurance systems that help improve the quality of IPTV services. We also took a closer look at innovations in the field of encoding and digital rights management systems. Increasing requirements of TV content developers encourage us to look for new ways of ensuring content security so that in the future we would be able to offer our customers the newest channels, shows, and movies”, says S. Venckievič.