COMPANY REPORT

Android R&D

Develops receivers with complex features Installation of Apps on a limited basis Android system requires higher quality components that results in higher costs Android is well-suited for private users but only limited for cable network operators

Jiuzhous Android Department

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Jiuzhous company headquarters in

Shenzhens High Tech Park. Here youll find 15 receiver developers that are working exclusively on the Android operating system.

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COMPANY REPORT

Android R&D

Will Android become the operating system of the future?

With an enormous R&D department, Jiuzhou has become one of the trailblazers of large receiver manufacturers for satellite, terrestrial TV and cable reception. Quite a few different operating systems can be found in these receivers but theres one operating system that everyone has been talking about for the past several years: the Android system. Here at TELE-audiovision we also have been expecting that more and more receivers would appear on the market with this operating system, yet that hasnt really happened. We introduced one of the first boxes, a DVB-T receiver - the DTP2100 from Jiuzhou, back in our 11-12/2012 issue. So, is the expected Android receiver boom now going to get off the ground? Who better to answer this question than the Android receiver Product Manager at Jiuzhou, Yongjun Zhang, who currently is developing Android prod-

In the 11-12/2012 issue we introduced the new Jiuzhou receiver

DTP2100, one of the first receivers based on the Android operating system. www.TELE-audiovision.com/12/11/jiuzhou

Shenzhen

Yongjun Zhang is the Android

Product Manager. Hes familiar with all the advantages and disadvantages of this operating system.

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veloped based We love all of cause Android for all of the IPTV offers.

on the Android system. these new products beis especially well-suited different functions that

And its here where Androids weakness can be seen. Yongjun Zhang explains, The system is so open that cable operators are not at all happy about it; their business is based on the sale of additional services. Thanks to all the available Apps, the additional services

riety of Apps and for the cable operator this would eliminate their number one selling point. As a customer, a highspeed Internet connection is all that youd need; you could then install everything else yourself that up until now could have been acquired through the cable company. Yongjun Zhang puts it all together: For these providers the Android system is not convenient since it is such an open system. We need a version of the

advantage for Android receivers. Aside from that, there are also the high-value Android components; to be able to use all of these functions youd need faster CPUs and more memory. This increases the prices for Android receivers on the order of 10-20% over standard receivers. Android receivers would become interesting for

1. In the Jiuzhou lobby: Android Product Manager Yongjun Zhang (left), TELE-audiovision Editor-in-Chief Alexander Wiese (center) and Demi Tao (right) from Jiuzhou's Overseas Marketing. 2. A look at the R&D Team that is developing receivers with the Android operating system. 3. Brand new: development sample of an Android receiver with WiFi. 4. A peek inside this new WiFi Android receiver.

ucts together with 15 engineers. He tells us: We started developing an Android based receiver back in 2011 and this was with 10 engineers. The first receiver came out in 2012, the one we introduced in the 11-12/2012 issue. A

considerably better model is just being finalized; it has a 1GHZ chip, 1GB of RAM and uses a Hisilicon chipset. This receiver model will be available in different Combo variations - each

unit is IPTV capable and can also receive one of the following standards: DVB-T/T2, DVB-S/S2 or DVB-C. Were also preparing something very special: a Dongle that can be plugged in to a TVs HDMI jack. The Dongle is being de-

from cable operators will no longer be needed. As a result, in the eyes of cable operators, Android wont be of any use to them. Many of the cable operators want to offer their Triple Play service which includes TV, telephone and Internet, explains Yongjun Zhang, but in the case of an Android box, if a user installs one of the free telephone Apps, they will no longer need the telephone service from the cable provider. Even TV channels can be received with a va-

operating system that is limited. As an example he mentions the Digital Rights Management: If providers can no longer control the content, they wont have any desire to implement such a system. The question of whether Android will be the operating system of the future can be answered like this: Android receivers are definitely interesting for private users but for providers, that look to offer high-quality content, theres no

cable operators if they were to offer lots of elaborate features. And thats exactly what the Jiuzhou developers are working on: in particular for the local Chinese market they are developing Android cable receivers with sophisticated features and limited capabilities to install Apps. Receivers based on the Android system are ideal for certain areas but this operating system would not take the place of the other operating systems.

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