Hiltron Communications, a globally active satellite system integrator, manufacturer and distributor, announces a new addition to its management team with the appointment of Jean-Luc George van Eeckhoutte as Sales Manager for the EMEA region. He brings nearly 20 years of experience to the role and joins from RF technology company Spinner GmbH.

DVB, an industry consortium that develops open, interoperable technical specifications for the delivery of digital media and broadcast services, today announced that an open source reference client for DVB-I is now available. The source code is provided via DVB's GitHub account. Developed in collaboration with Sofia Digital, the reference client and related materials are released under the open source MIT license and will help to accelerate deployments of the DVB-I specification.

"The events of recent weeks have clearly shown that television remains a popular and vital medium for information and entertainment," said Emily Dubs, head of technology at DVB. "With broadband-enabled devices typically orchestrating users' digital lives, this new reference client demonstrates the potential for DVB-I to play a vital role in uniting the wide range of linear services available to viewers, whether over broadband or broadcast networks."

"This is part of a shift by DVB to deliver more value to its members and to the industry, looking beyond the specifications themselves," said Peter MacAvock, chairman of DVB. "By providing this reference client, DVB hopes to encourage the adoption of DVB-I specifications in industry solutions for delivering linear television over the internet."

Hiltron Communications announces the completion of a custom-designed turnkey TVRO satellite platform for Nilesat, one of the largest Middle East telecommunication networks. The new installation is a fully L-band-over-fibre integrated downlink which covers all mediator satellites in the range from 30° west to 100° east, operating in C and Ku bands simultaneously.

"Located at our ground station in Giza, the new downlink gives us the reliability and flexibility we needed for backing up our existing fixed TVRO antennas," says Nilesat Head of Ground Segment Engineer Osama Tantawy. "Incoming signals from all antennas on the new platform, 32 feeds in total, are connected to the master control room via fibre-optic links. Hiltron has produced and integrated a complete solution including its HMCS monitoring and control software. The company worked closely with us from initial design right through to factory acceptance test, onsite installation, commissioning and training. The project was completed successfully and on time thanks to the experience and teamwork of everyone involved."

DVB, an industry consortium that develops open, interoperable technical specifications for the delivery of digital media and broadcast services, today announced that it will offer a series of free webinars based on the programme of DVB World 2020. Originally set for March 8-11 in Valencia, Spain, DVB World 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation. The next DVB World conference will take place in Berlin on March 22-24, 2021.

Hiltron Communications reports strong demand for its HCS-4 satcom system controller which has been integrated into various projects for customers in Europe, the Middle East and Far East.

An innovative recent implementation has been for one of the Middle East's largest telecommunication service-providers. This includes a switching and control system for Swedish Microwave optical low noise block downconverters. The HCS-4 powers and monitors the downconverters, checking for faults such as channel interrupts. If an interrupt is detected, the HCS-4 automatically switches to a backup signal source. Three downconverters are connected via optical fibre in a two-active-plus-one-backup configuration.

"The Middle East system follows on from the recent completion of a large project for a leading European satellite network operator," says Hiltron Managing Director Antonio Monteverde. "This included the integration of a 12U rack of monitoring equipment at 50 separate locations around the world, each with an HCS-4 as the control interface. Every system was pre-assembled and fully tested at our Backnang headquarters prior to on site integration."

DVB, an industry consortium that develops open, interoperable technical specifications for the delivery of digital media and broadcast services, today announced the approval of its DVB-I specification by the DVB Steering Board in Geneva. It has been published as DVB BlueBook A177.

The DVB-I specification aims to ensure that linear television delivered over the internet is as user-friendly and robust as a traditional broadcast television experience. It offers the possibility for linear television services to be delivered to any device with a suitable internet connection and media player, including TV sets, smartphones, tablets and media streaming devices.

"In developing an internet-centric solution for linear television services, we are providing the industry with a crucial missing piece that raises internet-based delivery to the same level in the DVB ecosystem as RF-based content delivery," said DVB Chair Peter MacAvock. "With these building blocks, addressing the discovery of DVB-I services and the delivery of programme metadata, DVB offers broadcasters and operators an exciting new deployment option."

The DVB-I specification defines DVB-I Service Lists, a means for internet-connected devices to find curated sets of linear television services that may be delivered through broadband or broadcast mechanisms. It also defines the methods to retrieve electronic programme data for those services, which can be integrated into a single coherent offering that is accessed through a consistent user interface.

Hiltron Communications announces the conclusion of a major systems integration project for a leading European satellite network operator. The new systems have been delivered to 50 sites around the world where they are being used for continuous quality of service monitoring of high-throughput satellites.

Exhibiting at IBC2019 (1.B71), DVB, an industry consortium that develops open interoperable technical specifications for the delivery of digital media and broadcast services, announced today that it will present the world's first demonstration of linear television services using the DVB-I solution, which relies on internet-based access and streaming mechanisms alongside classical broadcasting techniques.

DVB, an industry consortium that develops open interoperable technical specifications for the delivery of digital media and broadcast services, today announced a new revision to its specification for the use of video and audio coding in broadcast and broadband applications to include solutions for HDR Dynamic Mapping (DM). The solutions allow a receiver, such as a TV set, to adapt a High Dynamic Range video signal to the characteristics of the display. The revised specification was approved by the DVB Steering Board in Geneva on 3 July 2019.

At IBC2019, DVB will demonstrate how it is enabling an open standards-based approach to OTT and broadband television through its new DVB-I suite of specifications, highlighting support for low latency, enhanced service discovery, and mABR.

Mediaproxy, the leading provider in software-based broadcast and IP Monitoring, Analysis and Compliance has appointed Rajesh Patel as its new Vice President of Sales and Solutions for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Patel most recently managed the reseller, VAR, OEM and systems integration channel for the Mediaproxy range at Polar Graphics, where he gained an in-depth knowledge and understanding of both the product range and the needs of end-users.