Zenith Deploys Digital Set-Top Boxes For PBS Interactive DTV Trials

24-Apr-01

Capitalizing on the flexibility of the U.S. digital television (DTV) broadcast standard, Zenith Electronics Corporation has deployed digital set-top boxes for the first interactive DTV broadcasts of enhanced content which conclude next week.The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is conducting the first terrestrial DTV broadcasts of interactive television enhancements using the Advanced Television Enhancement Forum (ATVEF) specification. Zenith is supplying the ATVEF-enabled digital TV set-top boxes for trial participants served by NJN (New Jersey), MPBC (Lewiston, Maine), TPT, Twin Cities Public Television (St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota), WHYY (Philadelphia), and KQED (San Francisco). Zenith DTV boxes used in the trial are designed to receive and display enhanced DTV content using the ATVEF, which allows the enhanced content to be broadcast with the program, rather than requiring a connection to the Internet. The set-tops (model ADS-2001) will receive the over-the-air DTV broadcast signals, display the program information and user-viewable enhancement information, and store the program enhancements for use by the viewer either during the program or at a later time.The trial is built around four episodes of ìScientific American Frontiersî airing on local PBS stations and concluding on May 1. Enhanced streams with additional information about the program are placed within each episode. Program-related enhancements are encoded and distributed via satellite through PBS to member stations. Additional enhancements, customized to local audiences, are inserted into the local broadcast of each participating station. The entire broadcast, including the enhanced content, is transmitted by local PBS stations using the 8-VSB digital transmission system developed by Zenith and adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as part of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) DTV standard.Supporting the trial is Triveni Digital Inc., which is providing its SkyScraper data broadcasting systems for use by PBS and the five participating stations. The SkyScraper DataFab provides tools for a content provider like PBS to schedule, insert and manage enhanced data securely. Princeton, New Jersey-based Triveni Digital is a leading solutions provider for the management of enhanced data and metadata in digital broadcast streams. More information on Triveni Digital, a subsidiary of LG Electronics Inc. (LGE), is available at www.TriveniDigital.com.For more information about Zenith Electronics Corporation, visit www.zenith.com.

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