Sumitomo Electric Networks will supply high definition 4K p60 set top boxes (STBs) to NTT Plala, an IPTV service provider in Japan.
HD 4K p60 STBs are part of Sumitomo Electric Networks’ Stream Cruiser SmartTV ST4100 Series. NTT Plala will use the new STBs for video streaming of Hikari-TV on trial basis.
Sumitomo has associated with ViXS Systems, a Toronto, Canada based supplier of 4K SoC’s, to design the new set top box ST4112 for the trial service.
The ST4112 IP set top box for the trial service supports the decoding of 4K video content at 60 frames per second (4Kp60) with HEVC (ITU-T H.265) video compression technology, by utilizing the latest ViXS XCode XC6400 series SoC.
Sumitomo Electric Networks said ST4100 series IP set top boxes also support a number of leading edge capabilities, including HDMI 2.0 output, MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP), several types of DRM (Digital Rights Management) technologies and the IPv6 network.
When coupled with in-house developed IP streaming technology from Sumitomo Electric Networks, the new Set Top Box offers better viewing experience for the subscriber, made possible by 4Kp60 content being sent over an IP broadband network, and with such video streams being decoded on a real-time basis stably, the company said.
“NTT Plala will make efforts to enable the transition to UltraHD 4K services in the Japanese content market, and we needed innovative and reliable partners, such as Sumitomo Electric Networks and ViXS, to help us achieve our ambitious goals,” said Katsumi Nagata, executive director, Technology and Engineering Division, NTT Plala.