DVB-TA watermarking test streams now available

A new set of test streams has been added to DVB’s V&V (Verification & Validation) resources. The streams allow implementers of DVB Targeted Advertising (DVB-TA) to test the use of watermarking as a means of signalling the presence of advertising breaks or other content replacement opportunities.

DVB-TA enables broadcasters to tap into new revenue streams by offering more impactful advertising campaigns and personalized content on linear broadcast networks. Part 1 of DVB-TA specifies the broadcast signalling used by receivers to identify placement opportunities within a service in a DVB Transport Stream. Watermarking provides an optional alternative method for delivery of DVB-TA signalling from broadcasters to receivers.

Watermarking is particularly applicable to use cases where a linear broadcast service is delivered to a television receiver from a set-top box via HDMI. Because the signalling of the content replacement opportunity is carried as a watermark that persists through transcoding and multiplexing, it can be embedded by the broadcaster and pass through network/platform-operator systems seamlessly.

The new test streams cover a variety of scenarios where a broadcaster uses watermarks to signal the presence of ad breaks and include simulations of scenarios where actions occur on an STB during an ad break. The streams are intended to be played into a device with a watermark detector. Typically this would mean using an HDMI player to play into the HDMI input of a TV set.

The test streams can be freely downloaded from the V&V section of the DVB website.