SAN DIEGO, CALIF. and WASHINGTON—The Advanced Television Systems Committee’s ATSC TG3/S33 Specialist Group on Management and Protocols has recommended Verance VP1 as well as Sony technology for inclusion in ATSC 3.0.
“ATSC’s Specialist Group on Management and Protocols—TG3/S33—has made a preliminary decision to select the audio watermark technology proposed by Verance and the video watermark technology proposed by Sony for incorporation in ATSC 3.0. Selection of all technologies is subject to approval of the parent Technology Group and ultimately the Voting Membership in accordance with ATSC due process.”
According to Verance, VP1 “employs an inaudible, persistent and erasable audio watermark which passes seamlessly through any video distribution path and can be recovered from content within seconds. A standardized network transaction utilizing the data recovered from the watermark enables a connected receiver to obtain frame-accurate service signaling information not carried through the redistribution path directly from the broadcaster’s server.”
In this way, it says VP1 extends advanced broadcast functionalities on through to receivers over other distribution platforms, i.e., cable, satellite and online. It is described as an “open architecture system for first-screen automatic content recognition, enabling delivery of the full suite of broadband-enabled next-generation television features—including personalized viewing, onscreen interactivity, dynamic advertising and viewing measurement—to the many viewers who receive broadcast services via cable, satellite and [over-the-top TV].”
The vendor said ATSC issued a Call for Proposals for ACR Watermarking Systems in January 2014 and received responses in May 2014. The ATSC Specialist Group on Management and Protocols convened a group to review and evaluate those responses. This evaluation resulted in selection of the Verance VP1 proposal from among the audio watermarking solutions proposed for advancement through the ATSC standards development process toward the organization’s goal of issuing complete ATSC 3.0 specifications in 2016.
Dave Siegler, vice president of Technical Operations for Cox Media Group stated, “Cox views the broadband-enabled personalized viewing, on-screen interactivity, dynamic advertising and viewer measurement features of ATSC 3.0 as fundamentally important to the future of the broadcast ecosystem. Being able to deliver these features to our entire audience is important to the long-term strength of our industry. We strongly endorse the progress ATSC is making in these areas and are confident that the effort will deliver the tools needed to carry the industry through its next generation.”
Verance will introduce VP1 the 2015 NAB Show at the ATSC’s Technology Pavilion in North Hall at booth N5738.
Details about the Sony technology were not immediately available.
