Learn how to bring digital TV, data, and interactivity
to the television.
- Examine the new architectures being developed by the
cable industry as part of the OpenCable initiative
- Review the recent history of interactive TV, including
the Time Warner Full Service Network and Pegasus
program
- Understand the concepts of hybrid fiber coax
architecture
- Learn how the cable TV industry is evolving with
converging with the data networking industry
The cable industry is in the midst of a revolution.
Existing cable systems that were engineered for broadcast
television are being called on to support a host of new
applications and services which require upgrading those
cable systems to high-speed, two-way communications
networks. OpenCable Architecture is the first book
to focus on this new technology, answering many questions
and describing how the components of an OpenCable network
interconnect.
Written by one of the primary architects of the
OpenCable initiative, this book explains key concepts in
practical terms. It describes the digital headend, optical
transport, distribution hub, hybrid-fiber coax, and set-top
terminal equipment and how these componenets are
interconnected.
Whether you're a television, data communications, or
telecommunications professional, or an interested
layperson, OpenCable Architecture will help you
understand the technical and business issues surrounding
interactive television services. It will provide you with
an inside look at the combined efforts of the cable, data,
and consumerelectronics industries to develop those new
services.
Contents I. DIGITAL CABLE TELEVISION
- 1. Why Digital Television?
- 2. Analog Cable Technologies
- 3. The Analog Set-Top Converter
- 4. Digital Technologies
- 5. Adding Digital Television Services to Cable
Systems
- 6. The Digital Set-Top Converter
- 7. Digital Broadcast Case Studies
II. INTERACTIVE AND ON-DEMAND SERVICES
- 8. Interactive Services
- 9. Interactive Cable System Case Studies
- 10. On-Demand Services
- 11. On-Demand Cable System Case Studies
III. OPENCABLE
- 12. Why OpenCable?
- 13. OpenCable Architectural Model
- 14. OpenCable Device Functional Requirements
- 15. OpenCable Headend Interfaces
- 16. OCI-N: The Network Interface
- 17. OCI-C1: The Consumer Interface
- 18. OCI-C2: The Security Interface