New York, September 3, 2015 – Samsung Electronics will demonstrate the new HbbTV 2 subtitle format for the first time.0, which would open up access to live and on-demand content for the deaf and hard of hearing. The technology will be presented at IFA 2015 in Berlin, Germany, as part of the Hbb4All pilot A-project in cooperation with IRT and RBB, which aims to provide a wide range of services.
HbbTV 2.0 supports not only traditional broadcasting but also live and on-demand material
Broadcasters across Europe are having trouble providing subtitles running on a variety of platforms that could be useful to deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers, as well as people who don’t have enough language skills to get by without text support, whether it’s a foreign language or a native.
While subtitling technologies for traditional broadcast platforms are well established, the aim of the new developments is to provide a format that meets the specific needs of users. To provide services that are easy to use, high quality and compatible with all platforms, including broadcast on demand and IPTV, companies need a well thought-out production and distribution strategy that allows captioning to be shared and reused automatically.
“Samsung is excited to showcase a new convenient service for its TVs,” said Mi Young Yu, vice president of Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display division. – To support the work of the Hbb4All project and be ready to present it, we have accelerated the introduction of subtitles based on EBU-TT-D. We are also grateful for the support we have received from IRT, RBB and all the other partners in Hbb4All”.
HbbTV 2.0 supports EBU-TT-D as a subtitle format TTML for broadband content. On-demand content can be linked to out-of-band EBU-TT-D files, and MPEG-DASH based content is compatible with EBU-TT-D embedded subtitles. This, in turn, makes it possible to include subtitles in live broadcasts over the Internet.*
HbbTV terminals currently available on the market do not support subtitling for broadband content. However, these terminals provide applications with sufficient playback information for on-demand content, allowing them to add subtitles. This provides the necessary flexibility to implement personalized settings, such as font size.
Demonstration of the HbbTV 2 format.0 Samsung – the first element of the Hbb4All pilot A-project. HbbTV 2.0 will be presented to visitors at the IFA in Berlin in the ARD Digital Hall on the IRT and RBB stands, as well as at the IBC in Amsterdam from 7-15 September 2015 on the IRT stand.
What are the key features and benefits of the new subtitle format being introduced by Samsung Electronics at IFA and IBC? How is it different from existing subtitle formats and how will it enhance the viewer experience?