Vestel to Launch the First BitTorrent Certified Smart TV

SAN FRANCISCO & BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vestel, one of the world’s leading DTV manufacturers, and BitTorrent, Inc., a globally recognized creator of software products and technology protocols that help people find, share and move digital media, today announced plans to showcase the world’s first BitTorrent Certified Digital TV at the IFA show in Berlin. Vestel’s new BitTorrent Certified TV will enable consumers to find, play and share all types of personal media, independently produced content and internet files directly on their TV.

“The world of digital media has become unnecessarily complex and results in an increasingly fragmented consumer experience”

The two companies will jointly demo a prototype at IFA starting today at Hall 8.2.

“Consumers want all types of personal media and Internet content in their living rooms and the TV remains the most desired device for consuming this digital media, regardless of source,” said Hakan Kutlu, deputy general manager responsible for marketing at Vestel. “BitTorrent certification helps our TV line meet this consumer demand and ensures that Vestel products remain at the forefront of technology innovation and adoption.”

“The world of digital media has become unnecessarily complex and results in an increasingly fragmented consumer experience,” said Shahi Ghanem, chief strategist at BitTorrent. “People want access to their entire content library – personal media, Internet files, and artist approved content – regardless of source, media type, or file format. Vestel understands this consumer demand and will use BitTorrent certification to help ensure that users of their TV products will have access to a powerful, open ecosystem that guarantees consumers can play any content on any Vestel TV that is BitTorrent Certified. We’re exceptionally pleased to be working with Vestel and look forward to a long and beneficial partnership with the company.”

The BitTorrent ecosystem is an integrated solution of software, devices and content, all orchestrated to move 100+ million PC users into the living room via certified TVs, Blue-ray/DVD players, media extenders, NAS devices and more.

By becoming BitTorrent Certified, consumer electronics makers can leverage the speed of the BitTorrent protocol and key downloading, transcoding, sharing and file-shifting features to make it easy for their customers to find, get and play all files on any certified devices.

The BitTorrent certification program and brand assures consumers that any content will playback. Certified consumer electronics devices (TVs, DVD/BD players, media adapters, etc.) will seamlessly play content via BitTorrent. Device manufacturers also empower consumers to stream content from their BitTorrent libraries, all from a 4-button TV, DVD/BD Player or media adapter remote. The most advanced BitTorrent solution enables consumers to download photos, video, and audio directly to devices.

Showcasing its most exciting application, BitTorrent’s new personal media sharing service will allow consumers to send home videos, audio and photos directly into TVs, DVD/BD players and media adapters. By featuring a personal sharing application, BitTorrent helps consumer electronics manufacturers and consumers privately and securely share home movies and personal videos and watch/listen to everything on certified devices.

To see the prototype demo at IFA, please RSVP to ifa@bittorrent.com.

About Vestel

Vestel is a major player in the consumer electronics and household appliances with renowned products including television sets, B2B displays, digital set-top-boxes, and white goods. Groups are comprised of 25 companies operating in manufacturing, technology development, marketing, and distribution fields with € 3.7 billion turnover. The company is recognized for its cutting edge designs, impressive product quality, big production capacity and superior market share growth.

About BitTorrent

BitTorrent creates advanced, innovative technologies to efficiently move large files across the Internet. The company's two main products today include the original BitTorrent software and the tiny-but-mighty µTorrent, which combined boast over 100+ million users. BitTorrent is based in San Francisco, Calif. More information is available at http://www.bittorrent.com.