Access tapped for cable set-tops ahead of Japanese 4K launch

Panasonic System Solutions Japan has tapped TV technology outfit Access to provide its NetFront Browser BE v2 DTV Profile for digital cable set-tops that will support new 4K satellite broadcasting services to begin in December.

The browser will be used in TZ-LT1000BW, a new basic model to be launched in November 2018, and TZ-HT3000BW, a new model with a built-in 2 TB HDD to be launched in January 2019.

The new boxes will support a pass-through reception system for new 4K satellite broadcasts that enables cable TV frequency bands to be used efficiently and supports the increasing number of cable 4K channels, according to Access.

According to the technology outfit, the NetFront browser will provide datacasting and closed captioning functions for the 4K broadcasting services. This single browser solution supports ARIB-HTML5-compliant multimedia datacasting and new ARIB-TTML-compliant closed caption standards, which enable text and multimedia input, including images, sounds, and animations.

Japan will introduce new 4K and 8K satellite services this December, with specifications that cover multimedia services, subtitling and closed captions.