From Colin Mann in Las Vegas

Tandberg Television is pursuing what it describes as "a new chapter in video compression" with the launch of the EN8100 MPEG-2 SD encoder, designed to deliver a host of performance and operational benefits for DTH satellite, cable and terrestrial operators, as well as for content aggregators and distributors.

The Tandberg EN8100 is the industry's next generation MPEG-2 encoder, based on in-house developed technologies and encoding algorithms. It has been designed from the ground-up to deliver revolutionary encoding performance in a high density, low power (6 channels in 1 RU) chassis. The EN8100 cuts MPEG-2 SD bandwidth requirements by at least 15 per cent, even in legacy set-top box (STB) operations, and delivers a step change in performance that makes a meaningful difference to business cases.

"This is the biggest improvement to MPEG-2 in five years. We have seized the opportunity to develop the best MPEG-2 encoder in the world today and to help our customers lower costs, reduce their carbon footprints and continue to introduce new services that drive increased revenues" said Roger Bolton, EVP of compression systems at Tandberg Television.

Tandberg contends that with close to 1 billion MPEG-2 standard definition (SD) STBs and integrated digital TVs expected to be deployed world-wide by the end of 2009, the new product opens up new opportunities for legacy service providers around the world, enabling operators to achieve higher picture quality in the same bitrate, which is ideal for making SD MPEG-2 look acceptable on large flat panel TVs, and to profit from additional revenue from their existing infrastructure.

The minimum bandwidth savings of 15 per cent are achieved while maintaining full compatibility with all previous generation STBs to maximise limited and expensive network and bandwidth space. This means all operators can cost-effectively launch new services and save one in every five frequencies/transponders used for MPEG-2 broadcast.

…..

………………..

Categories: Articles