Eviados Receiver Gets Personal With Unique Recommendation Technology

The device was presented at IFA in Berlin and actually it is presented at APRICO’s booth (1.181a) at IBC in Amsterdam.The solution is based on recommendation technology from the Dutch company APRICO Solutions and the personal TV service watchmi from the multimedia corporation Axel Springer. watchmi is the result of years of research and development and with eviado one is now available for the first time as an “embedded solution”.

watchmi understands the viewer’s TV tastes as it feeds the APRICO TV recommendation technology with programme data from the editorial team of TV DIGITAL. The result is clear: self-learning “personal channels” simplify a linear TV offering from 60 channels, taking only those programmes that TV viewer would most likely want to watch and storing them on the hard disk. From there it is available for the viewer to be watched, without needing an active search or programming.
“We are very pleased to be working together with eviado and Axel Springer and to finally be able to offer the viewer a solution which quickly learns the viewer’s preferences. To do this, our recommendation and targeting engine analyses the programme data at a granular level to answer the most critical question:  What does a programme that this viewer or this family would enjoy consist of?”, explains Jeroen Cappendijk, general manager of APRICO solutions .  

Furthermore, the personal TV service analyses which recorded programmes have been watched, and which have been skipped over, or whether the viewer has even clearly stated “I like it” or “I don’t like it”. After a few days of use, the results are startling.
Field trials show that the personal channels are so good that the viewer spends less time watching traditional TV (less than 10% of time is spent watching live TV after 17 days).
In addition, APRICO Solutions has broken away from the traditional approach of one profile per device or user. The recommendation engine allocates channels to different profiles and is thereby able to satisfy the wishes of several users (family members) at once.
The EPG data ensures that when programme times change, the recording times are automatically updated. Traditional recording services, which can only process the intervals between programmes (daily, weekly, monthly etc.), cannot react to changes in the timetable in such a dynamic manner.

Until now, watchmi has only been available as software for Windows PCs. eviado one is the first hybrid set top box to use such a powerful pioneering technology. Thanks to new, more powerful storage and processor technologies, solutions that until now have only been extensively implemented in the internet as server systems can now be an embedded system in the eviado hybrid receiver.

With its personal TV technology, eviado is a flag bearer for TV watching of the future.
“The more I watch TV with eviado one, the more the recommendation system becomes a real help. It helps me to filter the flood of content and to concentrate on information that is relevant to me. This support becomes more and more valuable, especially now when the volume of content on offer is growing exponentially,“ said Frank Zimnik, chief technology officer, eviado.
Until now, recommendation engines have required searching before they have been able to find information. eviado makes it possible to find without searching. Experts predict a very high application for this technology in TV and are already asking the question “Who still needs Google?”

The viewer can now watch content on demand, which also includes the traditional TV offering. They only need to decide when to watch it. Watch what you want – when you want.
Intermedia applications will increase in importance and will also become a hot topic in social media networks. We can expect people sharing tips on how to generate personal channels in social media networks. Sharing content among social media platforms is on our developers’ roadmap.

Background
eviado one is a HD-Receiver with integrated PVR function, which takes advantage of external hard-drives through a USB connection. Significant aspects of the technology are the largest TV app portal in the German-speaking market (more than 100 TV apps) and a well-developed recommendation technology system for the personalisation of linear TV content.
The TV app portal complements the traditional TV reception and delivers a comprehensive Web on TV offering. The content of this will be continuously expanded and automatically made available to the user.

The receiver supports the new HbbTV standard, which is based on standards such as DVB, OIPF (Open IPTV Forum) and W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) and for all transmission methods such as satellite, cable and terrestrial, which support the inclusion of internet content.
LAN/WLAN and UPnP guarantee easy connection to a home network and access to various areas of data storage for digital content (e.g. PC hard-drives, Media Center).

Through the interactivity of the viewer, the lean-forward mode will become just as much part of daily life as the lean-back mode. This documents the beginning of interactive TV.

About eviado GmbH
The German technology company works in the home entertainment industry on the conception and development of hybrid boxes. The personalisation of content opens up new possibilities: advertisers and special interest providers will be able to use targeted approaches. It is with good reason that hybrid receivers are the focus of operators, broadcasters and telecommunications providers. eviado manufactures complete tailor-made hybrid technologies for these needs. More information is available on the blog or by following us on Twitter: www.eviado.com | www.twitter.com/eviado_

About APRICO Solutions
APRICO Solutions is a software company and part of Philips Electronics of the Netherlands. Its patented and award winning recommendation and targeting technology enables a personalized TV experience. APRICO is embedded by customers in the broadcast and Internet industries in various television, internet and mobile platforms. APRICO helps TV viewers to enjoy the exploding wealth of linear and non-linear content and offers unmatched simplicity, advanced and intelligent personalization capabilities. APRICO is fuelled by a massive database of EPG and Internet metadata owned by APRICO Solutions’ strategic alliance partner Axel Springer. APRICO enables its customers to offer a compelling TV service that can be monetized through targeted VoD recommendations, highly targeted advertising and increased consumer retention. For more information please visit www.aprico.tv

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