Amino, leading IPTV set-top box (STB) manufacturer, today announced that it has been selected by Lijbrandt Telecom BV to supply its STBs for the first ever High Definition (HD) IPTV service in Northern Europe. The service was rolled-out in time for World Cup football matches offering viewers greater clarity and detail. By selecting Amino for this deployment, Lijbrandt Telecom BV was able to deploy HD services rapidly.

As well as HDTV, the service will also offer triple-play functions; the grouping together of Internet access, TV and telephone services into one subscription via a broadband connection. Lijbrandt has created a new network for this service with extensive non-government investment (EUR 150-200million), and expects to grow to 120,000 subscribers within three years.

HD is the 'next big thing' in the television industry, and Lijbrandt's deployment comes at a time when the topic is bigger than ever. "With World Cup matches attracting the interest they do, it was a great time to be able to roll out our service", said Niels Jonkman for Lijbrandt Telecom "Amino's STBs played an important part in allowing us to do this in time, due to their pre-integration and extensive pre-testing. The boxes' reliability was also key - it's not good for anybody's reputation if people have problems with their set-top box during the big game!" Jonkman continued. All of Amino's STBs are extensively pre-tested with the main component providers, including middleware, browser and conditional access systems to ensure compatibility, thus reducing the research and development costs as well as time to market for the service provider.

Lijbrandt's service shows more than fifty channels, three of which are currently in HD (including World Cup coverage). However, this Autumn, the BBC will provide three more channels - The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and the National Geographic channels, all in HD. The service offers a unique service called "Missed-a-programme" which allows what is essentially a video-on-demand service for all non-commercial programmes, for example, news.

The service is unique as all of Lijbrandt's competitors use the Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) standard, whereas Lijbrandt uses the easy-to implement Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) format. In addition, good DMB reception can be achieved with existing DAB transmitters that only use low amounts of power to cover a large catchment area. The exclusively small form factor of the STB was a key reason that the AmiNET series was selected - because other providers broadcast via DVB, their STBs can be as large as a traditional VCR. When the service was initially trialled, 82% of those surveyed at the end of the assessment said they preferred the Lijbrandt service to their current service, and many specifically mentioned the small size of the box as a highlight.