Orca Interactive announced the launch of Home Media, a digital entertainment application that brings digital media content from the PC to the TV. Home Media enables subscribers to comfortably view photos and listen to music via the TV, and empowers IPTV operators to gain a bigger share of the large digital entertainment market.

With the proliferation of large screens and quality sound systems, TV sets provide the optimal platform for users to listen to, view and share PC-based content -- all in the comfort of the living room. Taking digital media content stored on the PC, from sources such as digital cameras and downloaded music files, Home Media allows subscribers to easily view photos and listen to music over the TV. Designed for the mass market, Home Media is a user-friendly application that any subscriber can operate easily via the TV remote control. The solution cost-effectively leverages existing home equipment -- the PC, TV and IPTV set-top box (STB).

"We are pleased to introduce our new Home Media application that allows IPTV operators to claim a larger and more central role in the digital home," said Yosi Glick, VP Marketing and Business Development, Orca Interactive. "Offering Home Media over our RiGHTv middleware provides subscribers with an integrated IPTV service that is exciting and easy to use. And since Home Media runs on existing set-top boxes in use, operators enjoy low total cost of ownership."



By providing Home Media, operators can further differentiate their service offerings from cable and satellite competitors, and strengthen their positioning in the leisure and digital lifestyle arenas. Consumer digital entertainment spending in the U.S. alone will reach more than $200 billion in 2005, and is estimated to reach over $260 billion in 2009 (Parks Associates). Home Media enables operators to increase their share of this market by providing subscribers with enhanced entertainment services that generate additional revenues and increase customer loyalty.

Home Media provides attractive features to subscribers:

-- Intuitive access to home media content simultaneously on every STB in the household.

-- Slideshow viewing of photo albums, in loop or random modes, using the TV remote to control transition times, rotate pictures and add background music.

-- Personal jukebox that presents and plays songs by category - including genre, artist and album - as well as by subscriber playlists and PC folder locations.

Part of the Orca video-over-IP application suite, Home Media runs on RiGHTv, the world's leading telco-grade IPTV middleware platform for delivering and managing interactive TV services. Home Media is comprised of TV- and PC-based components. The TV application provides a user-friendly subscriber user interface (SUI), accessed from the RiGHTv main menu. PC applications include a media server responsible for connectivity between the PC and STB, and a graphical user interface (GUI) for mapping media folders.