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RVU Remote Technology Aims for CE Device Interoperability with Pay TV Gear

JetHead, which specializes in developing embedded software for CE makers, has been deeply involved in the development of the RVU remote User Interface (UI) technology. David Bye, its VP of marketing and business development, provided an update to our article in last week’s edition.

Bye says the word “remote” does not refer to the device’s remote control but to the fact that the server — usually the pay TV service’s whole home DVR — is projecting the RVU interface on a “remote” device/display such as a TV set. “The ‘remote’ device,” he said, “can be a small and inexpensive pay TV STB, a TV, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console or anything else connected to a display.” Users operate the remote control that came with the device, with the possible exception of the TV set where the pay TV company’s remote can usually be used also for the TV. Key strokes on the remote control are sent by the device to the server; the server interprets the key, renders the UI and sends it to the device for display — instantaneously, of course.

The RVU remote software could be embedded in any new TV set or any TV-connected device.

RVU was developed by pay TV companies with the goal of protecting their content and projecting their UI onto every remote device in the home.

The pay TV companies’ initial plan is to get the RVU code embedded into TVs and the STBs that they deploy — as DirecTV is doing with Samsung TVs and Pace STBs. It could later show up in devices connected to TVs, such as a Blu-ray player, a smart TV adapter like Google TV or Apple TV or, we hope, even the next generation of smart surround sound systems.

“Today,” Bye said, “the UI that is being projected is basically a TV centric UI designed for the TV viewing experience, as most devices are connected to a TV sized display.”

Samsung, DirecTV Lead the Way
The RVU was first shown at CES in three Samsung LED smart TVs, which will work for DirecTV’s 19.1 million subscribers. Subscribers will be able to watch live and DVR content on the Samsung smart TVs without the need for STBs other than the whole-home STB/DVR. Oh happy day! One less box and fewer wires in the AV stack!

Samsung and DirecTV are founding members of the RVU Alliance.

RVU allows a STB server to provide a multi-room, complete viewing experience that includes DVR services, without the need for additional set-top boxes in homes that have more than one connected TV.

Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung’s visual display business, said that products developed on RVU standards will help accelerate the development of features and applications that provide “a truly customizable, immersive entertainment experience that can be enjoyed from the comfort of the home.” He said Samsung will embed support for RVU in its future smart TVs.

Pace Will Use JetHead’s RVU
For those that don’t own an RVU-capable TV set, they’ll need their main DVR to have it. STB maker Pace has developed with JetHead a small client box, the C30, for DirecTV’s whole home platform, available by year-end.

The C30 RVU client STB will be compatible with RVU servers from pay TV service providers, including DirecTV’s HR34 Home Media Center that is currently in field trials.

Pace said the C30 is the first to get RVU Alliance certification, which it said is “a major milestone in the development of whole home client/server technology for the US pay TV industry, and in the adoption of the RVU standard.”

Pace America president Mike Pulli said whole-home solutions are a prime example of the innovation happening in the US and their rapid deployment is a high priority for customers such as DirecTV.

Henry Derovanessian, president of the RVU Alliance and SVP of DirecTV said the certification is a major achievement in the development of the RVU client/server architecture.

Ben Payne, VP of engineering at JetHead, said the RVU technology is “fully compatible with 1080p video, 3D TV, and DTCP-IP content protection.”

RVU’s Advantages
The RVU Alliance points out these advantages of RVU remote technology:
- The exact same look and feel on every CE device.
- Network technology agnostic.
- Supports live TV and DVR playback.
- Supports extensions for advanced UIs and client capabilities such as 3D stereoscopic TV. 3D graphics are coming in RVU 2.0.
- Industry-standard protocols DLNA and UPNP.
- Uses the client’s graphic capabilities.
- Efficient network utilization.
- Lightweight footprint in the client device.

The RVU Alliance’s founding members were chipmaker Broadcom, box maker Cisco, CE device and STB maker Samsung and two pay TV operators, DirecTV and Verizon. Samsung’s upcoming DVRs for Liberty Media are not likely to have the RVU technology initially.

Quite a number of other companies have joined the RVU Alliance including more chip makers, box makers, pay TV operators and CE companies. Based on that, it has a good chance of succeeding.