DLNA Advances Playback of Commercial Video Across DLNA Certified(R) Products

LONDON, May 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) today announced the release of new Interoperability Guidelines for the playback of high-quality, premium commercial video. Announced at this week's Connected Home Global Summit 2011 in London, the new standard addresses the increasing demand for simplified access to premium commercial content throughout the home, including movies and network television programming. Developed in conjunction with global cable, satellite and telecommunications service providers, the Interoperability Guidelines leverage DTCP-IP Protected Streaming to make service provider content more easily available for playback across digital televisions, Blu-ray disc players, game consoles and set-top boxes.

"Our service provider member companies have been instrumental in the development of these Interoperability Guidelines for playback of premium commercial video on DLNA Certified(R) products," said Nidhish Parikh, chairman and president of DLNA. "Together, we are facilitating advances in the digital delivery of content to the home by building on the Alliance's rich set of technology to store and play content. The release of these Interoperability Guidelines is the first step in what is a key global strategic objective for DLNA over the next year."

"The new DLNA Interoperability Guidelines greatly assist Time Warner Cable by defining a common method to deliver our content to various retail consumer electronics devices such as connected televisions, game consoles, Blu-ray disc players, tablets and mobile phones; all securely using DTCP/IP link protection. Throughout our footprint we continue to deploy more set-top boxes that are able to serve content to DLNA products Certified to these Interoperability Guidelines," said Mike Lajoie, CTO of Time Warner Cable.

DLNA has worked with service providers on the delivery of digital content throughout the home since the Alliance's inception. DLNA Interoperability Guidelines are already in place as a component of the CableLabs(R)' tru2way(R) Home Networking specification and associated open source reference implementation that enables secure transfer of cable content to DLNA Certified(R) devices. CableLabs is a DLNA Promoter Member and a nonprofit research and development consortium dedicated to pursuing new cable telecommunications technologies. CableLabs has dedicated its last two interoperability events to testing the distribution of premium cable content from tru2way(R) set-top boxes to DLNA Certified(R) game consoles, televisions, PCs, and mobile phones.

"CableLabs is pleased by the cross-industry effort spearheaded by DLNA to enable the delivery of commercial video to retail consumer electronics devices," said Dr. Paul Liao, president and CEO of CableLabs. "With these new DLNA Interoperability Guidelines, consumers soon will be able to purchase a DLNA Certified(R) product that can access authorized content from any cable operator that provides a set-top-box built to tru2Way(R) Home Networking specifications."

Said Tony Werner, CTO of Comcast: "Comcast customers with set-top boxes based on tru2way(R) reference implementation will be able to enjoy premium recorded content on a variety of retail DLNA devices certified to these new guidelines. This development is an important step and Comcast looks forward to continued support of new DLNA initiatives that will enable additional usage scenarios for various content services."

"These new DLNA Interoperability Guidelines help us move beyond traditional consumption models to deliver content anywhere, anytime, on any device," said Jay Rolls, senior vice president of technology for Cox Communications. "In addition, DLNA Certified(R) consumer electronics can now be used to control playback of cable video content, extending the power of the remote to preferred personal devices."

Interoperability Guidelines for the playback of high-value, premium commercial content across home networks are available now. Product certifications to these guidelines will begin later this year. For more information about DLNA or the Alliance's global standards, please visit http://www.DLNA.org or find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/dlnacertified.

About DLNA

Members of Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) share a vision of an interoperable network of personal computers (PC), consumer electronics (CE), mobile devices and service providers in and beyond the home, enabling a seamless environment for sharing and growing new digital media and content services. Founded in 2003, the group established and maintains a platform of interoperability based on open and established industry standards that, when used by manufacturers will support the sharing of media through wired or wireless networks. More than 200 multi-industry companies from around the world have joined DLNA, committing the time and resources necessary to achieve their vision. DLNA's Promoter Members include: ACCESS, AT&T, AwoX, Broadcom, CableLabs, Cisco, Comcast, DIRECTV, DTS, Dolby Laboratories, Ericsson, HP, Huawei, Intel, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, PROMISE Technology, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Technicolor and Verizon. Additional information about the Alliance, its participating companies and membership benefits is available at www.dlna.org.