The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA®) today announced it has expanded the DLNA Certification Program to give CE manufacturers more options for certifying their products based on how they plan to differentiate them in the market.
The organization has also released updated Interoperability Guidelines that enable new product features for consumers who increasingly want to view content on mobile devices, improve energy efficiency, and enjoy video in higher-definition media formats.
“This is a major enhancement to the DLNA Certification Program and Interoperability Guidelines,” said Donna Moore, executive director of DLNA. “We now offer a 3.0 Certification option with plans to add a 4.0 Program that will enable CE manufacturers to give their customers the best possible connected home experience. Additionally, we have updated our Guidelines to make it easier for consumers to view a wider range of both standard and high-definition content on a broader selection of interoperable TVs, PCs and mobile devices.”
Over 4 billion devices have been certified to DLNA’s 2.0 Certification program. DLNA’s 3.0 Certification Program builds on the 2.0 Certification program by adding advanced features and capabilities for playback and response time. A planned 4.0 Certification option will ensure products support the broadest possible set of media formats and advanced features for optimum performance across the most extensive range of use cases. DLNA welcomes contributions from existing and new members as it defines the requirements for the future of interoperability with its new, 4.0 Certification Program.
Key new features of the updated DLNA Guidelines include:
- Media Interoperability Improvement (MII): The updated Guidelines eliminate differences between media formats for mobile devices, PCs, TVs, set top boxes, etc., improving interoperability amongst different device classes.
- Support for the High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC) video compression standard: This media format profile reduces bandwidth requirements of Ultra-HD video content streams that are delivered to consumers via a media gateway or set top box for viewing on Ultra-HD TVs. By providing this standards-based solution for streaming Ultra-HD TV content, the DLNA Interoperability Guidelines enable users to view content on multiple devices in the home with four times the resolution of today’s typical full HD 1080p formats.
- Improved power efficiency: The low-power mode already described in Part 10 of the Guidelines is now mandatory for Mobile Digital Media Server (M-DMS) and Digital Media Renderer (DMR) devices.
- Digital Media Player (DMP)/Digital Media Renderer (DMR): DLNA Guidelines now mandate that all DMPs are also DMRs. This ensures a more consistent user experience as consumers demand more flexibility in where they play their content.
- IPv6: DLNA has extended the home network’s functional components beyond the IPv4 Suite to include support for IPv6, the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP). This will ensure that DLNA devices will continue to function as more and more networks transition to IPv6.
