Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is
demonstrating for the first time a new subtitling format – HbbTV 2.0 – which at
long last will bring accessibility for the deaf and hard-of-hearing to live
streaming and on-demand content. The technology will be shown at IFA 2015 in
Berlin, Germany, as part of the Hbb4All Pilot-A project, in collaboration with
IRT and RBB, which aim to improve the delivery of a wide range of accessibility
services.
Across Europe, broadcasters have the
challenge of providing subtitles in a format that works on multiple platforms,
so that they can help individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, or simply
do not have sufficient language skills to comprehend the content without text
support – whether it is in the original or a foreign language.
While sub-titling technologies for
traditional broadcast platforms are well established, today’s challenge is to
provide subtitles that meet the specific needs of the users in terms of
channel, platform and their consumption requirements. To provide accessibility
services that are easy-to-use, are of a high quality and work on all platforms
offered by on-demand and IP television, broadcasters need a well-conceived
production and distribution strategy that allows them to exchange subtitles and
re-purpose them automatically.
“Samsung is delighted to demonstrate its
on-going commitment to supporting accessibility features in its TVs,” said Mi
Young Yoo, Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung
Electronics. “In order to support the work of the Hbb4All project and to be
ready for this demonstration, Samsung has accelerated its implementation for
EBU-TT-D based subtitles, and we are really grateful for the support provided
to us by IRT, RBB and all other Hbb4All partners.”
HbbTV 2.0 adds support for EBU-TT-D as a
subtitle format (TTML) for broadband content. On-demand content can be linked
with out-of-band EBU-TT-D documents and content based on MPEG-DASH can have
embedded EBU-TT-D subtitles. This in turn makes it possible to generate
subtitles for live streaming via the Internet.*
The HbbTV terminals currently available in
the market do not support subtitles for broadband content natively. However,
these terminals provide sufficient information on the playback position for
on-demand content directly to applications, so subtitles can be added in the
application. This provides the flexibility needed to offer users customized
subtitles, such as larger font sizes.
Samsung’s demonstration of the HbbTV 2.0
format is the first element of the Pilot-A project as proposed by the Hbb4All
project. Demonstrations of HbbTV 2.0 will be available at IFA in Berlin in the
ARD Digital Hall at the IRT and RBB booths, as well as at IBC, Amsterdam from
Sept. 7-15, 2015 at the IRT booth.
*Source:
Hbb4All website www.hbb4all.eu/home/hbb4allpilots/multiplatform-subtitle-services/
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