New high-def org formed

HANA to standardize home network technology

By Paul Sweeting -- Video Business, 12/14/2005

DEC. 14 | A group of hardware makers, technology companies and content owners has formed a new alliance charged with developing technical standards for the secure networking of high-definition programming throughout the home.

The formation of the High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance comes as home networking of entertainment programming has emerged as a major priority for PC makers as well as traditional consumer electronics companies, both of which see control of the living room and the box that gets connected to the TV set as key to their respective futures. It also has recently become a priority for studios and other content owners, who are eager to give consumers greater flexibility in how they use movies and other programming but are concerned about the potential for piracy.

A news conference to unveil the new alliance was held Wednesday at NBC Universal’s New York headquarters, a move organizers said was meant to signal the high priority the studio puts on developing secure home-networking standards. Other founding members of the alliance are Samsung, JVC, Mitsubishi, Charter Communications and Sun Microsystems, with additional companies expected to join as contributors.

“HANA brings together content providers, consumer electronics, service providers and IT with the sole purpose of addressing [high-def] needs such as quality of service, ease of use and content protection,” Samsung executive VP and newly elected HANA president Dr. Heemin Kwon said. “Since HANA is a cross-industry effort with members from each of the impacted [high-def] industries, we can achieve the ‘win-win’ necessary to commercialize [high-def] networks.”

Among the group’s first projects will be to work with the Advanced Access Content System consortium, which provided the basic copy-protection system used in both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, to develop technical standards for moving AACS-encrypted content between devices.

Both high-def disc formats are expected to offer consumers the ability to rip content from the discs to a computer hard drive for use in a home network or for transferring to a portable device. Details of how those transfers are to occur and how the content will be protected remain to be worked out, however.

The new group said it also will work with other standards bodies, such as the Consumer Electronics Assn., the Motion Picture Assn. of America, CableLabs and the Advanced Television Systems Committee to smooth the way for sharing high-def content around the home. The goal is to develop a certification program for HDTV sets, DVD players, cable boxes, digital video recorders and home theater systems that would ensure HANA-compliant devices provide plug-and-play ease for networking.

“A major benefit of HANA’s initiatives will be the ability for one remote control to manage all of the video equipment that gets connected to a HANA network,” said Gerry Kaufhold, an analyst with In-Stat who spoke at the news conference. “This one remote-per-room capability is a major breakthrough and presents a tremendous opportunity for consumers to finally be able to have easy access to all their home video content.”

The formation of HANA also comes as other groups and companies are jockeying to establish standards for the networked home.

Formed last year by Microsoft, Intel, Sony and others, the Digital Living Room Alliance has focused on developing technical standards for using music and photos over a home network.

Separately, Intel has been working with studios, software developers and hardware makers to promote its Viiv technology, which the chipmaker hopes will become a standard for networked devices in the home in the same way its Centrino technology became a standard for wireless mobile computing.

Like HANA, Intel plans to certify devices as Viiv-compliant, ensuring interoperability, just as it certifies public hot spots as Centrino-compliant.