Samsung opens up its Hybrid broadcast broadband TV media player to third-party developers

Samsung today announced that its Hybrid broadcast broadband TV media player is now going to be open source. Third-party developers will be able to find it on open source developer community github by simply searching for HbbPlayer. This move enables broadcasters and app developers who are creating HbbTV apps to test and validate them on a platform which can be implemented on any HbbTV 1.5-compliant television.

“We hope that the HbbTV community takes the opportunity to develop and test their HbbTV applications with our HbbPlayer and that we can work together for a more integrated and robust HbbTV system,” said Miyoung Yoo, ice President of Visual Display at Samsung Electronics.

The company describes HbbTV as a “global initiative aimed at harmonizing the broadcast and broadband delivery of entertainment services to consumers through connected TVs, set‐top boxes and multiscreen devices.” App developers often face difficulties in meeting HbbTV requirements with their initial code while some might find it hard to create HbbTV media player apps that are fully interoperable. Samsung's solution takes care of both of these issues.

The initial release supports HbbTV 1.5 features and in the future it will meet HbbTV 2.0.1 requirements. It also has support for DVB-DASH streaming for live and on-demand content aside from HTTP progressive control and additional advanced features.

Adnan Farooqui - Executive Editor

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First Samsung device: SGH-E900

Adnan Farooqui is a long-term writer at SamMobile. Based in Pakistan, his interests include technology, finance, Swiss watches and Formula 1. His tendency to write long posts betrays his inclination to being a man of few words.

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