RVU Alliance Remote User Interface Solution Shortlisted for IBC Innovation Awards 2012

BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The RVU Alliance today welcomed the news that the DIRECTV Home Media Center (HMC) solution has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Content Delivery Innovation Award by the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC).

“This is a major achievement by members of the RVU Alliance”

DIRECTV and partners Broadcom, Entropic Communications, JetHead Development, Pace and Samsung have collaborated to develop the Home Media Center solution, based around the RVU Alliance’s Remote User Interface (RUI) technology. DIRECTVs HR34 RVU server was launched in late 2011 in partnership with Samsung's 2011 Smart TV models. In addition Samsung also announced support for RVU for their 2012 TVs at CES this year. The award winners will be announced at the IBC Exhibition and Conference in Amsterdam in September.

“We are very pleased to have our HMC solution recognized by such a prestigious organization," said Romulo Pontual, CTO of DIRECTV. “Development and deployment of a new technology has required significant levels of co-operation from all participants. We look forward to continuing this with our current and new partners as we expand the footprint of compatible devices."

The RVU Protocol Specification describes a RUI standard which allows a single server in the home to interface to multiple client devices simultaneously, and provide both premium TV content and a consistent User Interface to every connected client. Clients can consist of CE devices such as Smart TVs, Blu Ray disc players, set-top boxes or other connected devices that support the RVU protocol with no additional hardware required.

“This is a major achievement by members of the RVU Alliance," said Henry Derovanessian, president of the RVU Alliance and senior vice president at DIRECTV. “Work is well underway defining the next generation of the RVU specification to build on our existing products. We expect RVU to continue to outperform other RUIs in the market from both an adoption and deployment standpoint."

The RVU Remote User Interface (RUI) technology is the first client/server RUI deployed by a major commercial broadcaster, with several RVU products having been released in the last 6 months.

DIRECTV released its Pace supplied HR34 RVU server in late 2011, which contained silicon solutions from Broadcom and Entropic.
The Pace supplied DIRECTV C30 reference client, also containing Broadcom and Entropic solutions and RVU client software by JetHead Development, works in tandem with the HR34
Samsung’s D6000, D6400 and D6420 TVs are also RVU compliant. Samsung will make RVU functionality available on their 2012 Smart TVs later this year.

RVU is built on the DLNA standard, and was in incorporated into the DLNA Interoperability Guidelines in early 2012, Clients are certified using a full suite of development tools, test procedures and a fully independent certification process run by the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory.

Full details of the RVU solution are available at www.rvualliance.org.

About RVU Alliance

RVU is a client/server-based technology that allows the television viewer to experience a consistent, pixel accurate server-generated user interface on various consumer electronics devices. The RVU specification uses widely implemented UPnP and DLNA technologies to enable a gateway device such as an advanced set-top box to work with non-proprietary client devices such as connected TVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes. The specification is maintained by the RVU Alliance, founded by Broadcom, Cisco, DIRECTV, Samsung and Verizon, which facilitates the adoption of an open standard technology that allows service providers to expand their unique UI and user experience onto standard consumer devices without the need for proprietary equipment. For more information on the RVU Alliance please visit www.rvualliance.org.

The RVU Alliance is an Oregon-based non-profit mutual benefit corporation formed to develop a specification for the RVU technology including a full-featured “pixel accurate” Remote User Interface (RUI). Founding Promoter members are Broadcom, Cisco, DIRECTV, Samsung and Verizon. Other Promoter members are BSkyB, Entropic, Humax, JetHead Development Inc, Morega, Pace PLC, Qualcomm-Atheros, Sigma Designs, ST Microelectronics, Technicolor and Trident Microsystems. The RVU Alliance complements and benefits existing industry interoperability initiatives and underscores its founders’ commitment to the sharing of digital content in the connected home. For more information about the RVU Alliance, please visit www.rvualliance.org.