Shift2Stream and Tolka have announced a global technology partnership. The first project will enhance the Vélo set-top box, a NextGen TV hybrid OTT/OTA Google-certified STB powered by Android TV. Shift2Stream will utilize Tolka’s ATSC 3.0 certified software stack in Vélo.
“We aim to offer the ultimate NextGen TV experience in a compact yet powerful set-top at an affordable price point,” says Mark Jensen of Shift2Stream. “We have taken great care in selecting the features for Vélo based on consumer feedback and television broadcaster field trials. Utilizing the data from those trials and media consumption habits, we created an in-home device that combines OTT services with OTA broadcast TV in a powerful, fully managed set-top box. Our aim is to provide a high-performance STB to retail at $99.99 for the single-tuner version and $129.99 for the dual-tuner plus 4G/5G capability. Tolka’s ATSC 3.0 Stack technology forms a highly efficient and practical basis for that development.”
“We are very pleased to have been selected by Shift2Stream to cooperate in their Vélo project,” adds Alex Day, Tolka Vice President of Business Development. “Mark and the team at S2S have mapped out an industry-changing product, which we are now working on in partnership to realize NextGen TV and A3SA certification for their scheduled Q3 2024 release date.”
The Vélo STB feature set will include:
• 4K UHD with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision HDR
• Netflix and Amazon Prime Video pre-certified/loaded
• PowerOn TV experience with remote management and support
• Google Assistant, Play Store, and Chromecast built-in
• NextGen TV and A3SA certified
Compatible with ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 standards, Tolka ATSC 3.0 Stack modules are designed for integration into household TV receivers, set-top boxes, in-car receivers, mobile phones, tablets or computers. They allow viewers to experience the latest-generation HDR UHD free-to-air television programs on Android or Linux platforms.
Additional features of Tolka ATSC 3.0 Stack include support for datacast receivers and multiple tuners. Datacasting enables applications such as localized emergency notification, exemplified by America’s Emergency Network for which Tolka helped create software and hardware to demonstrate its rich-media capabilities and actionable emergency alerts.
The Tolka ATSC 3.0 Stack is feature-rich with support for datacast receivers and multiple tuners, plus A3SA digital rights management offering content producers and broadcasters protection from disruptive program piracy. Plug-in support for third-party HTML user agents and media players, including SoC porting layer portability, can be provided. ATSC 3.0 Stack operates with the Tolka ATSC3 Software Module which includes a video demultiplexer, H264 and H265 video decoding, Advanced Audio Coding and Dolby AC-4 decoding.
