Freeview HD: Roles and Responsibilies
The following table identifies who in the digital television industry is responsible, an authority, consulted and informed on the different elements of Freeview HD.
For enquiries concerning any of the items in the table please contact the organisation or entity that is named as responsible.
Enquiries about the table in general should be directed to Hannah Langston at the DTG.
| Authority | Responsible | Consulted | Informed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specification | DTG | DTG Membership | DTG | |
| Test Specification | DTG | DTG Testing | DTG Membership | DTG |
| Interoperability Testing | DTG Testing | DTG | Manufacturer / Freeview | |
| Product Stability | Manufacturer | Freeview / DTG / Trade / Consumers | ||
| Features | Freeview | Manufacturer | DTG | Trade / Consumers / DTG |
| Software Upgrades | Manufacturer | Freeview | Freeview / DTG | |
| OAD Mechanism | DTG Testing | Manufacturer | DTG / Freeview | Trade / Consumers |
| Concessions to deviate from the specification | Freeview | Freeview / Manufacturer | DTG | Manufacturer |
Definitions
- Specification
- The D-Book is the technical specification for UK digital terrestrial television (currently branded as Freeview, Top Up TV and BT Vision), as published by the DTG. Manufacturers are encouraged to build products to the D-Book specification in order to achieve interoperability between devices.
- Test Specification
- The test specification is developed by the DTG's test working groups and provides DTG Testing with a framework for testing products against the specification.
- Interoperability Testing
- Interoperability is the ability of diverse systems to inter-operate e.g a television being able to receive and present services from the terrestrial broadcast network. Products achieve interoperability by adhering to open standards as agreed by industry. The DTG specifies open standards in the D-Book and in turn tests products against the D-Book to ensure interoperability.
- Product Stability
- A product's capability to operate successfully and present off-air services and interactive applications to the user, under all circumstances for the intended lifecycle of the product e.g without 'crashing'.
- Features
- Characteristics of a service or product that can deliver benefits for the consumer.
- Software Upgrades
- Technical updates to the software deployed in receivers already in the market.
- OAD (Over Air Download) Mechanism
- DTG Testing manages the UK Engineering Channel: a facility that enables receiver manufacturers to run software upgrades (known as OADs) in DTT products deployed in the UK. The DTG continually tests samples of existing receivers in the UK to ensure that the software upgrades don't affect the stability of other deployed products.
- Concessions to deviate from the specification
- These are variations of a product that do not fully adhere to the specification. They are usually temporary as the deviations are often addressed by a software update.
More information
- D-Book Specification (DTG members only)
- Interoperability testing
- Software upgrades
- OAD Mechanism (Engineering Channel)