Preamble
Be aware if this browser extension version is still less than 1.0, do consider it as a prototype!
The purpose of this project is to avoid the default browser action which is to download various iTV (interactive television) application pages (based on the HTML standard with some proprietary methods). Here this browser extension is detecting those pages and injecting during page loading, an emulation layer (plus a bottom UI toolbar). In addition, unrecognized video formats are also handled by external HTML5 video plugins.
Installation
This browser extension is available for free on those distribution platforms:
| Browser: | Mozilla Firefox (not ESR) | Google Chrome / Microsoft Edge | Apple Safari |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum version: |
V67+ (for ES6 dynamic import) | V63+ (for ES6 dynamic import) | V14+ (2020) |
| Extension availability: |
 |
➳ instead see the wiki dev install |
? |
Restrictions
Please note that not all video codecs are recognized by default in current (i.e. 2020) browsers:
| Browser: | Mozilla Firefox | Google Chrome | Apple Safari | Android Chrome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| codec H.264: | ||||
| codec H.265: |
If you need to create your own video stream (within TS or DASH structure), I suggest you the well-known FFMPEG or MP4BOX tools. And in real life (i.e. without this extension), OpenCaster will help you to create your own TS file that can be broadcasted with a Dektec or Hides USB modulator and you will then be able to test your app on a true oipf/hbbtv device (like a Smart TV)
➳ see Tools
Screenshots
Features
| Feature | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| auto-detection | an analysis of HTTP server headers and embedded HTML header & meta tags, is performed | |
| forced detection | user on-clicked power button |
|
| bottom bar | located underneath the screen rendering, some buttons (colored keys, resolutions for zoomed rendering, ...) are provided in order to interact with the emulator. | |
| iDTV customization | through above extension's popup (with various tabs), it enables the customization of various parameters (user-agent, OIPF capabilities, country, CAS id, DVB channels,...) | |
| external inputs | it handles some external inputs such as CI+ APDU reply message, Stream-Event content customization & triggering, DVB channels with customized LCN,... | |
| video support | enabled by the rendering of browser's unrecognized broadcast video streams: Mpeg-TS and Mpeg-DASH (with the help of external libraries) using HTML5 MSE interface. | |
| dev support | it includes emulated APIs and debugging information inside Firefox's performance inspector or Chrome's perf timeline using console.timeStamp() calls. |
Usage
You can use the arrow keys ←,→,↑,↓, enter and backspace to navigate inside the emulated iTV application.
Colored keys are also mapped to R, G, B and Y keyboard keys.
For more info, have a look at the Wiki page.
Examples
The purpose of this extension is mainly to validate the MIT-xperts test suite under CHROME and FIREFOX.
Here are some URL examples that have been extracted from various sources:
| Name | Source | URL |
|---|---|---|
| ARTE HbbTV | French & German DTT TS | http://www.arte.tv/hbbtvv2/index.html |
| MIT-xperts test suite | DTT & DVB-S TS stream | http://itv.mit-xperts.com/hbbtvtest/ |
| Coyote browser urls | DVB-S Astra™ TS stream | https://www.coyotebrowser.com/hbbtv/applistastra/ |
| ... | Catalog (with dead ones) | http://urju.de/hbbtv/ http://www.hbbig.com/ |
If you want to create your own HbbTV application, you can start with such code:
CLICK ME
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//HbbTV//1.1.1//EN" "http://www.hbbtv.org/dtd/HbbTV-1.1.1.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
<title>My 1st HbbTV app</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="application/vnd.hbbtv.xhtml+xml; charset=UTF-8" />
<meta http-equiv="pragma" content="no-cache" />
<style>* { margin:0; padding:0; background-repeat:no-repeat; font-family:Tiresias,sans-serif; }
#broadcast { position:absolute; top:0; left:0; width:1280px; height:720px; }
#title { position:absolute; top:200px; left:200px; width:100px; height:99px; font-size:32px; color:red; }</style>
<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
window.onload = function() {
var app = document.getElementById('oipfAppMan');
if (app && app.getOwnerApplication) app = app.getOwnerApplication(document);
if (app && app.show) app.show(); // needed to show the HbbTV app on screen
if (app && app.activate) app.activate();
if (app && app.privateData) app.privateData.keyset.setValue(0x1f);
window.focus();
window.onkeydown = function(event) {
switch(event.keyCode) {
case 13: case window.VK_ENTER:
document.getElementById('title').textContent = 'OK key pressed';
event.stopPropagation(); event.preventDefault(); return false; break;
default: return true;
}
};
// Here is you app code ...
document.getElementById('title').textContent = 'Hello from HbbTV';
};
//]]>
</script>
</head><body>
<object id="broadcast" type="video/broadcast"></object>
<object id="oipfAppMan" type="application/oipfApplicationManager" style="width:0; height:0;"></object>
<object id="oipfConfig" type="application/oipfConfiguration" style="width:0; height:0;"></object>
<div id="title"></div>
</body></html>Please note that there are more information on the Wiki page.
You can also check your page validity content using this HbbTV validator.
I also recommend you the BBC Tal framework which handles HbbTV devices through configuration files.
Dependencies
This project is not modifying those libraries and only doing dynamic calls at runtime on their CDN releases.
- DASH.js: reference client to decode DASH manifest files and provide segments to HTML5 MSE video player
↳ Copyright 2015 Dash Industry Forum with BSD license - MUX.js: useful library to transmux Mpeg-TS to MP4 on the fly in order to feed HTML5 MSE video player
↳ Copyright 2015 Brightcove with APACHE 2.0 license
Abbreviations
- iTV: Interactive TeleVision
- iDTV: Integrated Digital TeleVision
- CI+: Common Interface
- HLS: HTTP Live Streaming
- DASH: Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
- DVB: Digital Video Broadcasting
- DVB-T: Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial
- DVB-C: Digital Video Broadcasting Cable
- DVB-S: Digital Video Broadcasting Satellite
- DVB-SI: DVB Service Information
- AIT: Application Information Table
- EIT: Event Information Table (can be Present / Following / Schedule events)
- LCN: Logical Channel Number (using 3 or 4 digits)
References
- MHP (Multimedia Home Platform) : Based on SUN JAVA technology working on GEM-MHP middleware
- initially defined by ETSI TS 101 812 documentation
- no more
supported in browsers(might still run on Firefox 52 ESR + Java8 NPAPI plugin + BDJ.jar + viewer)
- HbbTV (Hybrid Broadband Broadcast TeleVision) :
- defined by current ETSI TS 102 796 V1.3.1 specifications (aka HbbTV V2.0)
- bringing Companion Screen management and HTML5 video tag notation within HbbTV V2.0 only
- following old MHP AITX structure
- handling some CEA-2014 notations ~ EcmaScript 3.0 and
not ES6⚠️ (use a compiler such as Babel) - implementing a subset of OIPF objects (with optional ones: +PVR +DL ...)
- replacing device manufacturer's portal using OpApps TS 103 606 features
- defined by current ETSI TS 102 796 V1.3.1 specifications (aka HbbTV V2.0)
- OHTV (Open Hybrid TV) : similar to HbbTV and used for example at iCON TV in KOREA by the national broadcaster KBS since 2010. Since 2016, it is now named IBB (Integrated Broadcast Broadband) defined by ITU-R BT.2267-6
- BML (Broadcast Markup Language) : similar to HbbTV and defined by ARIB STD B-24 standard used in JAPAN over ISDB-T broadcasted channels like NHK
- CE-HTML (Consumer Electronics HTML) : nowadays less used and only found on old devices.
- OIPF (Open IPtv Forum) : used on some STB & since 2014, it has been transferred to the HbbTV association
- ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) : USA broadcast standard where ATSC V3 follows HbbTV V2
Tools
- VizionR is a French
🇫🇷 company selling various softwares like Unyssea HbbTV injector and also a modulator named BeeBeeBox compliant HbbTV with DSMCC support - Mit-Xperts is a German
🇩🇪 company selling various softwares like iMux multiplexer server having HbbTV/MHP/MHEG with carousels support - Avalpa OpenCaster is a free Italian
🇮🇹 software needed if you want to broadcast your application using a modulator (such as next Hides Inc one), you can package your TS file (including object carousel) and broadcast it using this free software (over your local network or through a modulator) - TSDuck is a
🇫🇷 free software (similar to OpenCaster), providing various tools to handle TS manipulation. - Hides Inc is a Taiwan
🇹🇼 company selling an USB DVB-T modulator named UT-100C which includes OpenCaster software and windows & linux drivers - Dektec is a US
🇺🇸 company offering a catalog of various modulators on PCIe, USB2 and also USB3, here called DTU-315 using the broadcasting command DtPlay on Linux and StreamXpress under Windows™
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