Optibase and UTStarcom deliver "true PiP" for IPTV operators

June 7th, 2006 - Optibase says it is working with IPTV system and set-top box vendor UTStarcom to bring true Picture-in-Picture (PIP) capabilities to IPTV services, "giving subscribers seamless flexibility and control over channel selection while reducing or eliminating the need for additional hardware at the telco headend". The joint solution is being demonstrated this week at Globalcomm 2006 in Chicago.

Using increased processing power in next-generation set-top boxes (which have been built to handle HD and advanced codecs), the Optibase and UTStarcom PiP solution is designed to function on the client side to give subscribers the power to watch two or more channels at once. According to Optibase, "The service is not limited to certain channels or sizes as with previous IPTV PiP options. The subscriber has increased flexibility to change the application to include quad splits, locating PiP in different corners, resizing the screens, plus the ability to do a video mosaic of up to 16 video feeds on one screen, mimicking true PiP capabilities that consumers are accustomed to with competing cable and satellite services."

Optibase says that with MPEG-4 [Part 10] AVC HD technology, the PiP solution achieves efficient HD bandwidth utilisation without compromising video quality. Advanced codecs (almost exclusively MPEG-4 Part 10 on deployments to date, but which could include SMPTE VC-1) are currently the only compression technology that can squeeze HDTV over DSL.

"This announcement represents an evolutionary step in set-top box technology and IPTV service offerings, where IPTV operators can introduce more options for services that match those of competing providers," says Adam Schadle, president of Optibase. "With Optibase and UTStarcom's solution, users can have every channel on PiP, matching the level of functionality that consumers expect. This is a fundamentally different approach to PiP and provides a stepping stone for future developments.

"PiP capabilities have been touted by other encoding manufacturers but those solutions may provide limited functionality with the processing occurring on the digital headend rather than the set-top box," Schadle states.

Brian Caskey, vice president worldwide marketing for UTStarcom Inc. adds: "As our set-top box technology has evolved and become more advanced and powerful with the addition of the latest browser, middleware technology and chipsets, we can enable rich Internet applications and more complex set-top box based applications such as true PiP. This approach to PiP can give users more control over the channels that are available to them."