Independent software company, Ocean Blue Software, has launched a new suite of software products for the digital television and internet protocol television market based on a distribution agreement with a major consumer electronics manufacturer.
The software includes MHEG-5 middleware as used in the UK Freeview digital terrestrial television platform and provides what is described as a content management system for personal video recorders.
Ocean’s Voyager MHEG-5 software is the result of over ten person years of development. It sits on a product known as Sunrise that provides basic channel zapper support. The complementary SurfSoft system software is designed to manage the recording and retrieval of programmes in a personal video recorder, based on the emerging TV-Anytime standard. Ocean says that it will be offering MHP support in the future.
Ken Helps, founder of Ocean Blue, based in Bristol in the UK, says the software is “years ahead of the competition”. Ken is a well-known figure in the industry and a long-standing proponent of open industry standards. He was formerly involved with a competing provider of MHEG-5 middleware.