The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a leading United Nations agency for information and communication technologies, has made progress on standards for IPTV (News - Alert) and VoIP. Its Study Group 9 for broadband services approved Internet Protocol and advanced HDTV proposals at its meeting held recently at the headquarters of CableLabs (News - Alert). ITU Study Group 9 focuses on Broadband Cable Networks and Television and Sound Transmission.

 

Standardization is one of the major recommendations approved by Study Group 9 that paves the way for the advancement of IPTV. Recommendation J.700 titled “IPTV Service Requirements and Framework for Secondary Distribution” deals with secondary distribution, which is an ITU term meaning use of a transmission channel for distribution of video/audio programs to users. The channel can be a broadcast channel or cable network.

 

Study Group 9 meeting approved more than 25 recommendations relating to second- and third-generation for consideration by the full ITU for standardization. These recommendations aim at standardizing cable and hybrid networks primarily designed for television and sound program delivery to the home. These recommendations affect modems, set-top boxes, signaling equipment, interactive television application platform interfaces, digital program insertion, and others that are widely used in the networks in Asia, Europe, and North America.

 

J.600 is another recommendation titled “Transport of Large Screen Digital Imagery (LSDI) applications that employ MPEG-2 encoded HDTV signals.” This recommendation deals with the transport of program signals conforming to the higher levels of the LSDI expanded hierarchy. This recommendation focuses on the use of a broadband service or channel for transferring audio or video information to a production center where post-production processing may take place before subsequent distribution. Primary distribution means using a transmission channel for transferring audio and/or video information from a production center to one or several destination points.

 

Representatives of member states and sector members from North America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Trinidad and Tobago finalized a number of new and revised recommendations.