The original idea was that the Youview software, overlaying STB or PVR functionality, would allow one box to offer both DTT and IPTV, both free and paid, both unicast and multicast, both retail and proprietary.
Unfortunately, over the years of development, it ended up with too many cooks in the kitchen, and too many conflicting interests to produce a truly integrated box. All the various requirements went into the Core Spec, but a hell of a lot never made it into the actual boxes. There was a desperate stripping-out of "non-essential" functionality to try to finally get the Humax box to market in time for the London Olympics. What was left out were largely the bits not needed/wanted by BT, who needed a new system box and were determined it would be YouView. Consequently, once launched, YouView spent its first year being made multicast-capable in time for the launch of BT Sport, rather than being made fit-for-purpose for retail buyers.
Hence the collapse of the original BBC vision (that YouView would become the replacement for Freeview, and thus save the UK FTA broadcasters from being cannibalized by OTT providers like NetFlix)), the split between the YouView broadcasting partners and the YouView ISP partners, and the eventual development (by the broadcasting partners) of FreeView Play instead.
Huawei wasn't caught in quite the same bind as the Humax box, being always TalkTalk's baby and only required to more or less keep up with what was being offered by the Humax box.
| Mon 14 Dec 2015 11:38:18
#8 |
