Blackarrow Consulting

There… it is finished, and by many accounts it has been a very successful one for the industry, although I would like to see the gross receipts from business done before I would crown it.

It was a business-like IBC, with no real wow ‘almost products’, but an awful lot of ready to ship technology to support the sale of content to the masses. IPTV was a big thing as I thought, in combination with a variety of cable, terrestrial and satellite traditional tuner products with and without CA. The Hybrid box is becoming the standard, allowing access to either OTT/in-network IP content delivery. In additional there were a number of connected home devices beyond the standard STB – the TV included. One thing that was noticeable was the reduction of the traditional silicon suppliers (Broadcom and ST) and the increased profile of the new boys (Intel). Is this a sign that hybrid boxes need pure grunt power?

It was also the year of improved EPGs and UIs, made possible with the use of that under-utilised part – the 3D graphics processor, something that made its appearance back in the day but without anyone having any good idea about how to use it until now. The stands were soaked with cover flow images and rapidly moving dynamism. There was also the over use of 3D vision on stands also, in line with the general industry view that this is the hot technology. It is not my view of course, being cursed with the motion sickness in the face of 3D. This year though, the actual demo of a 3D UI was also a big thing (more than just the technical demonstrators of previous years) but to be honest most were too busy for many ordinary people – they definitely triggered my motion sickness as features jumped forward and backward.

Another addition to the demos, was the increased visibility of connected home devices – the serving of video content within the home using DLNA, made more obvious by the fact that almost every stand had a demo built around the Apple iPad, either for providing a content window, or in providing that second screen experience – or as my wife bills it, a very expensive remote control. Talked about was how to protect that content, with the traditional DRM suppliers having busy stands, but also the CA providers getting in on the act and extending into this space as a protection mechanism against the OTT future. However most demos were made without the practical realities of this getting in the way. This is an important point considering the CA’less world of the UK’s Freeview platform, where it is already common to have the ability of getting recordings off of PVRs without being encumbered with any DRM.

These are my reflections on IBC2010, and I look forward to IBC2011 with a renewed optimism except in the area of 3D. It is my belief that IBC2011 will be the show where a truly hybrid delivery model both through standard means and OTT, combined with in-home and extra-home delivery, multi-room recorded content, multiple display and control devices will make a big breakthrough, and that 3D content will start to show the strain of being a minority novelty.

I will leave you with one nifty product, from over on the Echostar stand – an ultra thin PVR, albeit what must be one of the most expensive PVRs in the world with its storage on solid state disk and looking a little like a hot plate.