NDS Receives Industry Accolade at IBC Award Ceremony

* NDS wins Best Technical Paper category at IBC 2010 Conference
* Paper examines the impact of screen size and scaling on Stereoscopic 3DTV

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – IBC, Stand 1.A71 - NDS announced that it has received the award for the ‘Best Technical Paper’ at this year’s IBC Award ceremony. The authors were presented with the award for their technical paper entitled “Does size matter: the challenges when scaling stereoscopic 3D content”.

The IBC Conference Paper Award, part of the IBC Awards, recognises the paper that best matches original content with clarity of presentation. Proposals for papers are submitted earlier in the year and are carefully evaluated by a committee of experts who consider each one for innovative content. The papers sessions at IBC remains the world’s leading forum for the presentation and development of the latest research in electronic media technology.

The NDS paper examines a range of technical issues associated with the delivery of 3D TV including what happens to the stereoscopic 3D effect (S3D) as screen sizes scale. It looks at the theoretical potential for compensation for different screen sizes under typical viewing distances, and the challenges in performing this in low-cost STBs and TV sets where the input is a stereoscopic image pair and asks questions such as ‘what is the effect of larger or smaller screen sizes on our 3D perception?’.

Dr. Kevin Murray, co-author of the report said: “The challenge in delivering stereoscopic 3D content to the home will be in giving every viewer a high-quality experience. Common variations in screen size complicate this process but we believe that it’s possible to use a common input signal to simplify delivery and to provide effective and efficient local screen size compensation in the home. This paper proposes alternative approaches to achieving the desired quality of experience in S3D and it is very gratifying that it has been recognised for the light that it sheds on the topic by the IBC Conference Awards judging committee.”

With over 3,000 members of staff dedicated to R&D worldwide, NDS invests heavily in research into new technologies such as 3DTV. First showcasing 3D TV solutions at IBC 2009, the company has furthered its research to encompass many of the associated challenges for broadcasters.

Dr. Murray presented on the challenges of scaling stereoscopic 3D content during this year’s IBC Conference in the technology advancements stream.

For more information, please visit www.ibc.org

About NDS

NDS Group Ltd. creates the technologies and applications that enable pay-TV operators to securely deliver digital content to TV STBs (set-top boxes), DVRs (digital video recorders), PCs, mobiles and other multimedia devices. Over 70 of the world’s leading pay-TV platforms rely on NDS solutions to protect and enhance their businesses. VideoGuard® is the world’s market-leading conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) technology, currently deployed on 133 million active devices, and safeguarding pay-TV service revenues exceeding $40 billion. NDS middleware, including MediaHighway® which enables a host of advanced services for subscribers, has been deployed on 152 million devices. NDS DVR technology, centred around XTV™, leads the global industry with 30 million units deployed. (Deployment figures as of 30th June 2010).

Headquartered in the UK, NDS remains committed to investing in R&D with over 75% of its employees dedicated to pioneering work at development centres in China, Denmark, France, India, Israel, Korea, UK and US. NDS has also implemented a host of initiatives aimed at reducing its carbon footprint and helping digital TV subscribers reduce energy consumption.

NDS Group Ltd. is a private company owned by the Permira Funds and News Corporation. See www.nds.com for more information.