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This company in Israel were taken to task for abusing the GPL - they used the GNU tool chain which they modified to produce a compiler/linker for their STBs: JFGI.

To the extent that you, or your licensees under the GPL, make any modifications to, or derive (through reverse engineering or otherwise) other software products and/or functionality from, the OpenTV Distributed GNU Utilities ("Modifications and/or Derivatives"), neither OpenTV nor the GPL licenses you, implicitly or otherwise, under any OpenTV patents that cover the Modifications and/or Derivatives, whether alone or in combination with the OpenTV Distributed GNU Utilities.

For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.

Spyglass is not out of business. It settled its dispute with Microsoft and continued to develop and sell Mosaic for use in embedded systems (calling it Device Mosaic). It was eventually bought by OpenTV.

Spyglass is not out of business. It settled its dispute with Microsoft and continued to develop and sell Mosaic for use in embedded systems (calling it Device Mosaic). It was eventually bought by OpenTV.

OpenTV will also provide any third party a complete machine-readable copy of the source code for OpenTV Distributed GNU Utilities on a medium customarily used for software interchange in exchange for our cost of physically performing such source distribution, provided the request is received no later than 3 years after OpenTV has distributed the OpenTV Distributed GNU Utilities to you. To request a copy of the source code for a particular OpenTV Distributed GNU Utility, please send a written request, including contact, billing and shipping information to: ...

(b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange.

I see they actually have posted it now... opentv.com

sdk is here.


freetv has the announcement.

Intriguingly, the postlink sources have a makefile for linux even though OpenTV doesn't officially support linux. Hopefully they'll release their toolchain for linux RSN.

Well we got excited about ATVEF, then MHEG, then MHP, somewhere in there OpenTV developed their own proprietary system, as did Liberate. And that's not even including the TV over ADSL guys...

iMagicTV, one of those TV over ADSL middleware providers uses HTML with 'tv in the browser' as does others like Minerva and Orca...

Don't forget about hardware vendors who are already shipping and this includes the big boys like Thomson/RCA

So why yet another dtv standard.. I'm getting dizzy...

Oh, I think Spyglass hated them... once they started giving out the product for free....

If you don't understand this, try Help/About Internet Explorer in any Windows copy of IE....

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Remainder of my .sig: be the majority of voters

I work in Interactive TV as an OpenTV developer. There's nothing to prove here. They openly state that their tools are based on GNU tools. For example, gcco is a gcc compiler that produces OpenTV 'o-code' bytecodes which are executed by the set-top-box (like java bytecodes). They have several other GNU-based tools like aso (o-code assembler etc.). They supply a copy of the GPL with these tools. But they won't provide the source when we ask them.

If you want to ask for the source for their GNU-based sofware, or complain, then email support@opentv.com

HH

The basic idea of 'interactive TV' is the ability to provide a web type experience while watching TV . Yes, it may not be what everyone thinks is the killer application, but it is feasible and it can work today. Both Microsoft, Intel, and Liberate (formally NCI, formally Network Computer, spun off by Oracle) are using the ATVEF standards as a basis for their work. Companies like PowerTV, OpenTV, and Wink are attempting to use proprietary formats and software to achieve the the same goal.

The ATVEF group have developed a set of extension s to HTML that allow an ATVEF enabled device to display TV and web type images simultaneously. You can see a real example of this by watching Jeopardy on a WebTV box. You can play along with the show.

Part of the ATVEF standard calls for the inclusion of triggers and javascript type information to be actually sent with the video in the VBI (vertical blanking interval). This type of triggering allows synchonized events without worrying about the latency of the TV path.

A company called Mixed Signals does this type of TV enhancement for other comapnies.

Another type of enhanced TV is the 'two screen' type. Two screen means haivng your computer and TV in the same room. ABC has been doing this with Monday Night Football and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. If you watch a MNF or SNF game and see a play dispute instant replay, you will see the internet users actually voting on wether the play should stand or not. The count is updated in realtime on television. You can try it ABC's enhanced TV the next time one of their shows is on.

I's suggest reading the ATEVF site a bit. It's the standard supported by most of the content providers. They are the ones going to pay the big bill to enhance TV.

Let me know if you need to know more. I have the connections to find out pretty much any answer about this stuff.
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There are many companies trying to get pieces of this market right now. You've got service providers (ISPs, Telcos, and cable companies), hardware manufacturers (for set top boxes / cable boxes), middleware suppliers (who write embedded client software for the set top boxes and server software at the provider end to support all the client boxes), and content providers (who create and/or run servers to house ITV content).

Liberate is a middleware (software) supplier. Our biggest competitor right now is (of course) MicrosoftTV (don't know the official URL). So far we've been holding our own against them (even stealing customers from them sometimes, which is satisfying), but they have a way of sneaking up on you. Another competitor is OpenTV. As far as protocols go, Liberate builds on open and existing standards (MPEG, HTML, JavaScript, Java). OpenTV uses their own proprietary protocols, as does MicrosoftTV I believe (haven't seen much from them yet).

-- I speak for myself, not for Liberate.

Disclaimer: I work for OpenTV, so this is a bit of a plug, but in this message I'm not speaking for my employer.

The Dish Network should be offering interactive content using OpenTV by the end of the year. AFAIK, OpenTV will be automatically downloaded into the flash memory of all 4700 and better Boxes. The services will be free (unlike WebTV). I don't have any details on which services will be available, but stay tuned for more info.

I got DirecTV over two years ago and am mostly happy with it. I'll probably switch to Dish when OpenTV is available for it. It's about time I upgrade to a box with Dolby Digital sound. I'm hoping for HDTV reception (via off-air and satellite) on a Dish box by the time I'm looking to upgrade. The Dish Network seems to be in the lead where technology, amount of content and local content is concerned.