3. Outline of the IBC demonstration

For the benefit of the reader, the main characteristics of TV Anytime are summarised once more:

1. Usage of local storage in content delivery chain

Local storage, especially in the form of a hard disk, can deliver TV content as good as, or in some respects even better than, live broadcasts. The users and the broadcasters have a common interest in getting the right programmes on the right hard disks: the users want programmes they like, and the broadcasters want to increase the probability that they reach their target audience.

2. Easy access

In order to fill the hard disk with TV content, it must be easy for the consumer to find interesting programmes and select them for capture, and it must be easy to subsequently 'consume' the content. TV Anytime provides several ways of doing this, including

• programme selection from trailer, web site, EPG
• capturing programme groups (series etc.)
• items
• links to related content

3. Attractors, metadata

In order for a user (or the device on his behalf) to make sensible selections from the large amount of content offered, data describing the programme must be provided. These attractors can include textual description, categorisation, rating, images, etc. TV Anytime and its set of attractors

• support both manual and automated selection based on personal interest
• allow personalisation

  3.2 The IBC demo

Basically, the STORit demo at IBC demonstrated the full functionality of TV Anytime, illustrating how the use of local storage and the mechanisms of TV Anytime enable the viewers to easily get the programmes they like available at the moment they choose.
The IBC STORit demo system consists of home equipment (a television and a PC) connected to DVB and internet via a 'prototype' of the STORit box, a gateway to these external information channels equipped with extensive local storage in the form of a hard disk.

Figure 1: IBC demo set-up; BBC's DVB and Internet services live from the UK, being used in the IBC demo
consisting of a STORit box, television and home PC.

The demo works with live BBC digital television broadcasts received via satellite. The TV Anytime data for the broadcast programmes and dedicated web pages are supplied from London via an internet link and used in the demonstration set-up. This involves

• Fully automated generation of broadcast selection and resolution metadata in London related to live TV programme schedules from BBC the database
• Encapsulation of the metadata stream in internet (delivery of the data via satellite to the IBC venue was not feasible yet).
• Reception of content, metadata stream and access to web site at RAI, Amsterdam
• Usage of this data in the demo, its advantages reflected in a dedicated user interface.

The TV Anytime features that are demonstrated, based on this data stream, are

• Easy programme selection from trailer, resident navigator using attractors, and web site,
• Fulfilment, i.e. subsequent time / channel independent capturing of these programmes on hard disk, and easy playback at any convenient moment
• Programme grouping (series, serial, season)
• Programme segmentation (Preloaded news bulletin, soccer match, educational material)
• Content management,
• Programme filtering and automatic recording based on meta data and personal profiles

More details can be found in the next section. Another important feature shown at IBC is the interoperability between DVB and internet realised in TV Anytime. This creates great opportunities both for entertainment purposes (the BBC web site giving pointers to programs you don’t want to miss, and that can be selected with one simple click) and for educational purposes (Open University type of programmes combined and integrated with web based course material).

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