Consumers receiving internet television (IPTV) directly on the TV via the telephone line can in future look forward to even more viewing pleasure. The telecommunications group of Siemens AG is presenting its line for IPTV in HDTV quality (high-definition television) at CeBIT. The new, high-resolution TV standard produces extremely sharp images, intense colors and a broad depth of field that gives the picture an almost three-dimensional quality.

The IPTV service from Siemens is child's play to use: With internet TV, the television becomes the hub for entertainment and communication, and is simple to operate via the remote or an attached keyboard. There's no longer the inconvenience of having to boot up the PC. A menu selection in the electronic program guide (EPG) allows the user to choose between watching films in standard or high-resolution format.

An HDTV-compatible television and HDTV-ready set-top box connected to the TV are needed in order to receive high-resolution HDTV. Siemens has several HDTV compatible set-top boxes from various manufacturers in its portfolio. Samsung is a recent addition to this group of partner companies.

The Siemens solution – offered under the product name Surpass Home Entertainment – allows network carriers to offer their customers three attractive products with just one broadband connection: television, high-speed internet access and telephony (so-called triple play). The HDTV service will be seamlessly integrated into the home entertainment platform.

The Surpass Home Entertainment solution from Siemens also includes a host of additional services, such as IP and video telephony, online games, a digital video store (video on demand), walled garden, digital recording of broadcasts (PVR), and replay of past broadcasts (TV of yesterday). It offers a completely new television experience: Passive channel-hopping is a thing of the past, now there's interactive television browsing with the ability to access online information or services related to the current TV broadcast or chat online during a show. Products can be tailored to meet customers’ needs: ADC in Thailand, for instance, wanted Karaoke on demand, a service that Siemens then developed. This shows that Surpass Home Entertainment can be adapted very flexibly to diverse market situations. As infrastructure supplier and system integrator, Siemens ensures a trouble-free installation of the solution in existing network landscapes and provides all the necessary components.

Market researchers from In-Stat forecast a great future for the home entertainment industry. They estimate the market for IP television at over 31 million subscribers worldwide by 2009, with approximately 57 percent of those in Asia and 30 percent in Europe.