What’s ‘missing’ from the Video Accelerator? What gaps will operators have to fill?
The key components an operator typically needs to add to the Video Accelerator include:
In this guide, we are going to focus on RDKs Video Accelerator (VA). The latest version of RDK-V (v4.0) has been implemented on production-ready hardware and is pre-integrated with the Metrological application store, giving operators access to all the major OTT applications and 300+ other applications.
That said, VA isn’t an off-the-shelf ready solution and there will be gaps you’ll need to fill and things you’ll need to think about during development.
As experienced System Integrators with one of Europe’s largest RDK development teams, we know how RDK’s Video Accelerator can help you accelerate development. We’ve helped other operators develop and deliver RDK devices to market and here we share our insight to help you do the same.
Let’s start with some basics.
The Reference Design Kit (RDK) is a collaboration between some of the world’s largest pay TV operators. It provides software which can be used to create set top boxes, video services and connected media devices (RDK-V), broadband gateways (RDK-B) and recently IP cameras (RDK-C).
RDK provides most of the essential code needed to create these products and focuses on the lower and middle layers of the software stack, leaving the operator to add their specific user interface and customisations. To date RDK has been used in over 60 million devices.
Over 200 companies are currently RDK licensees and RDK members enjoy royalty free access to the code. Participation follows an open source model with RDK Management (RDK-M) providing the necessary code management and infrastructure. But, RDK does not provide the complete software solution operators need to add their own user interface and network specific customisations.
To date RDK consists of over 200 software components, giving operators incredible flexibility to customise the code to meet their product and network requirements.
As an operator you have complete control over how you use the RDK code base, so you can change components or add and remove them as they see fit. To help you get started quickly RDK supports a number of reference platforms.
All the RDK variants have one or more reference platforms – for RDK-V the standard reference platforms are the Raspberry Pi 3b and an x86 emulation. RDK-V has been ported to various other development platforms including the Creator CI20 and the NXP MX8MQ but to-date all the deployed STBs are based on Broadcom or Amlogic.
While Broadcom have been involved with the RDK since its inception and offer the most mature support for RDK, Amlogic have recently launched in the Multichoice DStv Streama. At Consult Red we helped Amlogic deliver their first RDK product and we’re now working with other silicon vendors who will soon be revealed in product launches. In short, other providers are moving into this space providing more options for operators
For some operators, especially those with significant scale, having full control over all elements of the software stack is important.
For these larger operators, starting development with a reference platform then migrating to a target platform complements their internal development process.
But for other operators this is complex and costly, and they are happy to sacrifice some flexibility for a faster, cheaper route to market. This is where RDK’s Video Accelerator comes into its own.
By working with STB manufacturers (or OEMs), namely Skyworth, Commscope, Kaon and Humax – the latest version of RDK-V (v4.0) has been implemented on production-ready hardware. RDK 4.0 is also pre-integrated with the Metrological application store giving operator access to all the major OTT applications and 300+ other applications.
Packaging RDK-V with production hardware and an application solution productizes RDK and can significantly reduce time-to-market, risk and cost. There is no migration to target hardware and operators can immediately start user interface development and backend integration. The Video Accelerator is proving popular with operators and that’s is attracting more OEMs and silicon vendors to RDK (good news for operators).
Even with the RDK Video Accelerator the operator is still in full control and can change any aspect of RDK they choose. That said, the further you deviate from the baseline Video Accelerator, the more time and effort you will need to invest, so it’s a trade-off.
RDK-V is not a complete STB or smart media device solution, and even though the Video Accelerator is a significant step towards a complete product, the operator will still need to add some key components, which will vary depending on their network requirements.
A capable OEM will be able to assist with many of these components but for some components, such as the user interface, it may make sense to work with an experienced System Integrator or technology provider (like us!).
The key components an operator typically needs to add to the Video Accelerator include:
We’ve helped silicon vendors implement the RDK Video Accelerator and worked with some the world’s largest operators to launch their RDK products. Our award-winning team worked with Liberty Global to develop their One Middleware ‘Horizon 4’ solution, and recently helped Amlogic deliver their first RDK product. We are proactive members of the RDK community in the ongoing development of RDK.