YouView on HDT500 and HDT1000

[brianh]

YouView was launched on 4th July 2012.

The HDT500 and HDT1000 currently provide access to the BBC iPlayer.

Will support for YouView be added to the HDT500 and HDT1000 in a firmware update?

If so, when will this happen?

Brian

[drhowells]

Out of interest, why do youy think this is possible?

YouView is a completely different Operating System, design and company. It is not a case of adding support, the box will need to be designed to cope with it. I would think it is a resounding no, this will not be possible to update in the future.

You would have to buy a YouView box to get YouView, or go through BT or TalkTalk to get one of their new (currently unreleased) YouView boxes on subscription.

[brianh]

Hello

So YouView is a company (Like Microsoft and Apple?) and an Operating System (Like Windows or MacOS?)

That is not at all accurate.

To Quote Wikipedia:

"YouView is an IPTV television service in the United Kingdom which was formally launched on 4 July 2012, with receivers going on sale from 26 July.^[1][2] The venture is a partnership between four broadcasters (BBC,Channel 4, Channel 5 and ITV) and three communications companies (Arqiva, BT and TalkTalk).

YouView allows access to television channels, radio stations, on-demand services and internet content using aset-top box, 'hybrid' connected with an internet connection and an aerial to watch digital terrestrial televisionchannels (similar to BT Vision). At the launch of YouView, chairman Alan Sugar's ambition for the service was to replace Freeview devices.^[3]"

and

"BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service and software application, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clipcontent to include whole TV shows."

Both require an internet connection with the former being an IPTV service and the latter an Internet Television service.

Do you know of a technical reason why the HDT500 and HDT1000 cannot decode IPTV?

Brian

[Catmambo]

Hi Brian

There are a few different points here so I'll split them up and answer them separately.

Drhowells is correct - Youview is an entire platform built on flash. Very simply your device doesn't support flash as most devices don't ( as its largely not being developed any further and requires alot of processing power). There is very little support for Youview within the Consumer Electronics industry so don't expect to see a raft of Youview devices from any A brand manufacturer, certainly not built into TV's anytime soon.

Your PVR supports MHEG iPlayer but that is the limit of its IP functionality. Easiest way to add further functionality would be to pick up one of the 2012 Blu-ray players as you'll then get the latest version of iPlayer, Netflix, Lovefilm etc etc.

Hope this helps

[brianh]

Hi

Thanks for you response.

I'm still not convinced the HDT500 and HDT1000 are incapable of supporting YouView and would welcome a comment from someone technical at Sony on this.

I'm currently reading the "YouView Core Technical Specification V1", there is no mention of it being based on flash.

Brian

[drhowells]

Catmambo is the Sony rep

I still don't get why you think YouView will be on those devices. It is like asking when is the Samsung SmartTV software going to be on Sony TVs....They are completely unrelated pieces of software that you would need to buy an additional device to get.

[brianh]

Oh dear

Well, let me rephrase my question.

Why do HDT500 and HDT1000 only support the BBC iPlayer and none of the other catchup services supported by YouView such as 4OD?

Brian

[drhowells]

That's not a rephrase, that's a different question altogether

ITV and Channel 4 are partners in YouTube, so they have invested a lot of money in bringing it to market, so their on demand offerings were bound to be on it.

Sony and other TV manufacturers have been in negotiation with ITV etc for ages about getting their on demand on the TVs but nothing has been agreed. 

[brianh]

Thanks for taking the time to repond.

Brian

[JCFHUK]

it's not built on Adobe Flash, it's Linux based:

Technical information

On 14 April 2011, YouView published its final core technical specification.^[33] The minimum specifications for a YouView-enabled DTT HD PVR product require:^[36]

• Twin DVB-T2 tuners
• Embedded Linux 2.6.23 or later operating system
• Maximum of 26 dB of fan noise
• 720p graphics plane
• MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video
• RGB SCART socket
• HDMI 1.3 socket
• Powered RF loop-through
• Optical or coaxial S/PDIF connection
• Up to 5.1 surround sound
• Ethernet port supporting 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX
• 802.11n wireless support, integrated or via a USB adapter
• 950 MHz CPU
• Two USB 2.0 sockets
• Support for USB mass storage devices
• 320 GB hard disk drive (30 GB reserved for pushed content)
• Support for on hard disk drive encryption using AES128 or Triple DES
• 512 MB of RAM

Analogue HD outputs are forbidden as part of the rights management strategy.