DVB and HbbTV cooperate on new DASH validation tool

DVB has revealed details of a collaboration with the HbbTV Association to create a DASH validation tool for application developers and content providers. The newly released tool conducts checks of ISO/IEC 23009-1 MPEG-DASH media presentation descriptions (MPDs) and segments to ensure conformance with DASH-related specifications from DVB and HbbTV.

“DVB and HbbTV have a close relationship and common membership, making this the perfect partnership,” said Peter MacAvock, chair of DVB. “Content delivery is becoming increasingly complex. Working together, we are bringing simplicity to content conformance for DASH-delivered streams.”

Extending the existing DASH-IF validator, the new tool includes:

– Comprehensive checks for MPEG-DASH MPD validation (XML, DASH schema, and MPEG-DASH MPD rules), segment validation (ISO BMFF and MPEG-DASH segment rules), cross-representation validation (MPEG-DASH cross-representation rules), and live MPD segment access validation;
– Compliance with a wide range of specifications;
– Support for DVB-DASH Profile v1.1.1 and HbbTV 1.5 extensions.

After performing conformance checks, the new tool generates reports for users to analyse. The reports are colour-coded, making it easy to see important information, warnings, and error messages. Additionally, the tool complements the HbbTV Association DRM Reference Application and Test Suite, providing device manufacturers with examples of working applications and content with DRM.

DVB-DASH defines the delivery of live and on-demand TV content over the open internet via HTTP adaptive streaming. By defining additional constraints and referencing a selection of video and audio codecs from the DVB toolbox as being technically appropriate for use with MPEG-DASH, DVB-DASH facilitates implementation of the MPEG-DASH specification. DVB-DASH is referenced in the HbbTV specifications, which means that many devices on the market currently support this profile. Content providers across Europe have deployed services using DVB-DASH.

The validator source code is now available for free under an open source license and can be found by visiting https://github.com/Dash-Industry-Forum/Conformance-Software.