DVB World 2023 Report: What We Learned

Event Report | June 28, 2022

The event featured 27 sessions on various topics where primary attention was paid to moving TV to native IP architecture.

Some of the highlights included:

• How to speed up the deployment of native IP solutions such as DVB-I and DVB-NIP.
• How to deploy new more efficient audio and video codecs faster
• Use cases for object-oriented coding
• Immersive XR video use cases including demos
• Satellite beam-hopping for LEO and MEO satellites
• Green energy-aware broadcasting.
• We presented our own session on Boosting SFN by enhanced satellite:
  • In this session, we showcased the benefits of DVB Single Illumination, a unique standard that can save up to 98% of capacity in real use cases where satellite feeds terrestrial SFN transmitters. Such standard is not available in any other standardization group.
  • However, we also pointed out the problem of having a single vendor for DVB SIS, which goes against the essence of any standard and makes it a proprietary solution. Other DVB members have seen compatibility issues in real life, so we suggested to perform validation and verification tests with different vendors. This suggestion was supported by Eutelsat and ESA and became part of the final DVB plenary meeting notes. We also proposed to distinguish between standards that have passed V&V and those that have not, to avoid risks of single supplier.
• Another session we participated in was about Dynamic ad insertion:
  • This session was led by Mr. Angelo Petassi from the DVB Targeted Advertisement group and attracted about 30 professionals. We discussed the four basic profiles for targeted advertising, based on client or server-side insertion and protocol used (DASH or MPEG & HbbTV). We learned that client-side MPEG & HbbTV is the subject of DVB TA – Part 1 and that several German TV broadcasters have formed a consortium to deploy it. We also learned that GDPR limits the depth of user profiles in Europe. Another limitation is that TV ads are more device-oriented rather than user-oriented (comparing e.g. to tablet).

DVB World also provided a useful networking tool, with the possibility to discuss specific topics with like-minded professionals.

During the Icebreaker event, the evening before DVB World itself, we found an interesting fit between the newly standardized satellite beam hopping and dynamic broadcasting.

The plenary session held on the day after gave us a good update on the different working group activities and status quo, covering native IP, adaptive multicast, satellite, home gateway, object coding, XR video study mission, promotion etc. Among others, Eutelsat and ESA representatives suggested to restart work related to DVB SIS standard and organize missing validation and verification tests with different vendors. This will ensure that DVB SIS becomes a truly open and interoperable standard for the benefit of the industry.

We hope you enjoyed this report of DVB World 2023 and we look forward to seeing you at the next edition!

MAINDATA develops innovative products and solutions in the field of TV broadcast and satellite internet. By optimizing TV signal delivery, MAINDATA’s solutions open new revenue streams for TV broadcasters. Established in 1996, MAINDATA attracted worldwide customer base including Eurovision, World Bank, Sony, Tata and others.