HANNOVER, Germany -- Consumers receiving internet television (IPTV) directly on the TV via thetelephone line can in future look forward to even more viewing pleasure. Thetelecommunications group of Siemens AG is presenting its line for IPTV in HDTVquality (high-definition television) at CeBIT. The new, high-resolution TV standardproduces extremely sharp images, intense colors and a broad depth of field thatgives the picture an almost three-dimensional quality.

The IPTV service from Siemens is child's play to use: With internet TV, the televisionbecomes the hub for entertainment and communication, and is simple to operate via theremote or an attached keyboard. There's no longer the inconvenience of having to bootup the PC. A menu selection in the electronic program guide (EPG) allows the user tochoose between watching films in standard or high-resolution format.

An HDTV-compatible television and HDTV-ready set-top box connected to the TV areneeded in order to receive high-resolution HDTV. Siemens has several HDTVcompatible set-top boxes from various manufacturers in its portfolio. Samsung is arecent addition to this group of partner companies.

The Siemens solution – offered under the product name Surpass Home Entertainment –allows network carriers to offer their customers three attractive products with just onebroadband connection: television, high-speed internet access and telephony (so-calledtriple play). The HDTV service will be seamlessly integrated into the homeentertainment platform.

The Surpass Home Entertainment solution from Siemens also includes a host ofadditional services, such as IP and video telephony, online games, a digital video store(video on demand), walled garden, digital recording of broadcasts (PVR), and replay ofpast broadcasts (TV of yesterday). It offers a completely new television experience:Passive channel-hopping is a thing of the past, now there's interactive televisionbrowsing with the ability to access online information or services related to the currentTV broadcast or chat online during a show. Products can be tailored to meet customers’needs: ADC in Thailand, for instance, wanted Karaoke on demand, a service thatSiemens then developed. This shows that Surpass Home Entertainment can beadapted very flexibly to diverse market situations. As infrastructure supplier and systemintegrator, Siemens ensures a trouble-free installation of the solution in existing networklandscapes and provides all the necessary components.Market researchers from In-Stat forecast a great future for the home entertainmentindustry. They estimate the market for IP television at over 31 million subscribersworldwide by 2009, with approximately 57 percent of those in Asia and 30 percent inEurope.

Siemens AG (NYSE: SI; Frankfurt: SIE)