Idea Center

Digital Home Entertainment systems are more affordable today than they were about three(3) years back. Home Theatre Systems, Surround Sound installations and better home entertainment experience solutions have been around the block for a while.

Direct-to-Home (DTH) Television has made strong inroads in several markets including India. The strongest driver for this was a lack of high bandwidth last mile trickling down from "Multiple Service Operators" (MSOs.) LCD Televisions are becoming more popular, High resolution HD capable televisions have entered the market. The Set top boxes (STBs) today have already started providing Video recording with Live TV pause features (which started with the TiVo) and is available even in India as Tata Sky Plus.

The next wait is for "Interactive Television." Many have termed this as Internet Television, IPTV, but the end-user will want to experience the next level of technology in entertainment. The ability to control, choose and interact directly with television programmes.

As a user, a Basic set of features I would expect would be:

• On-Demand Viewership: On Demand Programme Viewership with On Demand Payment in a cost sensitive environment where the user can select programmes while using the Television from a list of available programmes.
  
• Advertisement Control: I should have the ability to pay more and therefore reduce the number of advertisements (normal, medium, low, none) for different pricing slabs while taking programmes on-demand.
• Password Access: I want to be able to set passwords or access control cards for different users at home, with one automatic setting for "Family Viewership" that helps us automatically decide the Censorship Ratings (U, PG, [13], [18], [21]*)
• Gaming Console: I want the same box to allow me to play conventional PC or PS2 or PS3 games so that I don't have to invest in one more box as a gaming console.
• Internet Videos: I should be able to watch videos from the Internet optionally and also listen to "Internet Radio".
• Music Mode: While listening to music using the Interactive Television Set-Top-Box I would like the Television display to be switch off or to go to a low power mode.
• Television compatibility: I should be able to connect the box to a Television or a Computer Display with the appropriate cabling and have no hassles in usage.
• Interactive Polling: Interactive polls on some Television Programmes should be usable with the Set top Box without requiring a separate SMS service or to logon to the Internet from a PC. The Set top Box by itself should allow this.
• Programme Recording & Playback: Simultaneous playback of recorded programmes and recording of programmes in the background must be possible. It must be possible to record multiple programmes in the background if family members are interested in more than one programme.
• Multichannel View: There must be a simple way to check out a mosaic of what is happening on a multiple set of channels, lets say sports channels or movie channels or soap channels or news channels or a custom group of channels. This way I don't have to channel browse too often. This could be for a short duration to avoid charging for all the channels viewed.
  
• Backward compatibility: I should still be able to select a Cable TV feed that contains multiple channels without interactivity. The box should be compatible with service providers who do not provide Interactive Television.
• Subtitles: If I do not understand the language of a programme, I must be able to subscribe to sub-titles. I must be able to switch off subtitles when I don't need them. This can be an additonal service with extra payments.
• Optional HDTV: I must be able to choose the quality of Television viewed. If I choose high HDTV quality, I would pay higher, or I would be content watching the programmes in SDTV (Standard Definition Television) without having to pay extra.
• Media Organization: I should be able to organize recorded programmes by name or genre or time or the content as I wish to.
• Dynamic Quality: The Brightness, Sharpness and Contrast of the image displayed by the set-top-box should be dynamically adjusted for different feeds to provide a preset best effect. I should also have the option of changing some of the display and audio quality parameters.
• Audio Equalizer: There must be an audio equalizer available that I can tune when I am watching music videos or some special programmes. It should not entirely be presets for different type of programmes.
• Battery Backup: If the Power goes down, the Set top Box should safely go to a low power mode or sleep on battery and no recorded programmes should be interrupted or damaged due to power failure.
• Connector Location: All connectors should be behind the Set top Box with only controls and Remote Controller access and an LCD Display in front. This is to keep the setup aesthetically good.
• Placement: The Set Top Box must come in colors that are compatible with the new generation television. They should be appropritaely shaped to be used together with LCD televisions and not require a flat top to place them.
• Programme Rating: I should be able to rate a program that I can use to find out if I want to subscribe to it the next time it is available. I should be able to decide whether my rating of the programme should be available to my Service Provider.
• Remote Control: The Remote control should not have complex controls and have as few buttons as possible.
• OSD: The On-Screen-Display must look like the User Interface on my computer, not green or blue text with a transparent background,
  

The above are well thought-of functions that an Interactive Television should have at the very minimum.