The TV-Anytime Forum, in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), introduces the NAB Interactive Living pavilion in its debut at the NAB2001 conference and exhibit. The NAB Interactive Living pavilion (Booth #E5011) is part of the NAB E-TOPIA on the ground floor of the Sands Expo Center. E-TOPIA is focused on leading-edge technology for digital multi-media content creation, distribution, and archiving.

The NAB Interactive Living pavilion in partnership with the TV-Anytime Forum showcases the most advanced interactive technologies for the broadcast community. It includes exhibits by TV-Anytime Forum members: MicrosoftTV, Intel, Information Broadcasting Laboratories/Sony, NDS, FutureTV, Dentsu, EnReach Technologies, and Pace Micro Technology. MicrosoftTV presents the latest version of its UltimateTV platform which uses two tuners to combine broadcast content from DIRECTV with interactive and Internet-on-TV capabilities. IBLabs/Sony exhibits a TV-Anytime service environment, from content provider to content browser, featuring personalized content delivery. NDS demonstrates its XTV PVR system including purchase of pre-recorded VOD content, segmentation of content, and targeted advertising. EnReach is showing a low-cost interactive media solution for broadband streaming, VOD, and personal video recording over broadband IP infrastructure. Pace Micro Technology presents its PVR system which is integrated with Sega technology to allow consumers to play video games on-line with anyone in the US while recording television programming.

As demonstrated by the exhibits in the Interactive Living pavilion at NAB2001, Personal Digital Recorders (PDRs) are revolutionizing the way content is distributed and used. The TV-Anytime Forum is a consortium of companies developing open specifications for interoperable and integrated systems to allow content creators, broadcasters and other media service providers, consumer electronics manufacturers, technology and application service providers, and telecommunications companies to maximize effective use of high-capacity digital storage in consumer devices. "The Forum is committed to the exciting vision of the PDR. Consumers will be able to take control to view what they want, when they want, and service and content providers will have the ability to develop both new types of material and the methods to market it.," said Simon Parnall, Chairman of theTV-Anytime Forum.

In the year and a half since its inaugural meeting in September 1999, membership of the TV-Anytime Forum has grown to over 160 organizations and counts among its members all of today's major vendors of personal digital recorders, along with scores of other companies involved in the emerging digital media industry worldwide. The TV-Anytime Forum is a not-for-profit organization, and invites participation from all interested parties. TV-Anytime Forum meetings are held at two-month intervals in the US, Europe, and Asia.

The current focus of the TV-Anytime Forum is completing the first phase specifications for Content Referencing, Metadata, and Rights Management and Protection, along with the informative documents of TV-Anytime Business Models and System Description. The TV-Anytime Forum has also initiated the definition of subsequent phases of TV-Anytime systems. The TV-Anytime Forum is coordinating its activities with other standards organizations, including ARIB, ATSC, DVB, IETF, MPEG, SMPTE, W3C and others.

To date, the TV-Anytime Forum has completed and published its five requirements documents, and has published four of its five specifications in the areas of Content Referencing, Metadata, System Description and Benchmark Applications. The remaining specification document in the series is in development and addresses Content Rights Management & Protection. The Content Referencing, Metadata, and Rights Management and Protection specifications together provide broadcasters, manufacturers and service providers with the standards they need to ensure that their products can be integrated and are interoperable with other TV-Anytime systems and services. The accompanying specifications of Benchmark Applications and System Description provide a list of TV-Anytime Phase 1 features and usage scenarios, as well as a description of how the normative specifications can be combined to create a TV-Anytime system.

All documents published by the TV-Anytime Forum are available from its website at http://www.tv-anytime.org. The site also gives detailed information on the membership and activities of the Forum.

For more information, contact Lynne Apodaca at lapodaca@inventures.com or +1.925.275.6648.
 

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