CCTV orders 16 4K DTC transmitters/receivers

In what DTC Broadcast describe as its “largest 4K order” yet, they are to supply 16 complete AEON-TX 4K transmitters, PRORXD-AEON receivers, antennas and ancillaries to Chinese broadcaster CCTV – DTC’s first major customer in the country. The order was sourced via DTC’s Hong Kong partner Ideal Systems.

The first shipments to China will occur during this current quarter-year.

DTC Regional Sales Manager/APAC, Gareth James, commented: “This landmark sale is a major entrée into this vast market, and what better way to enter than with the AEON-TX. It further illustrates the value of having a strong partner in the region, and we’re proud to partner with Ideal Systems.”

DTC Broadcast says their AEON group of products are specifically designed for the 4K market. The AEON 4K encoder makes more efficient use of the HEVC algorithm, which in this case means it can take a 12G signal and compress it to a bitrate that can be managed over an RF link.

According to James: “Among its many attributes what really caught the eye, and ultimately made the sale, was AEON’s dual-pedestal capability, which makes it exceptionally reliable at high resolutions, and future proof.”

Picture quality is determined by the number of bits that can be transmitted over RF and still maintain the link. Transmitting fewer bits provides a more reliable link, but results in unacceptable picture quality. AEON-TX, dual pedestal approach gets around this problem by enabling 32 megabits of data to be sent over a 16-QAM channel. For any live broadcast, that’s not just huge in terms of reliability, it’s more than enough to just as reliably transmit 4K – or, if preferred, four channels of HD in any format – over a single link.

Moreover, AEON’s dual-pedestal modulation technique is proven to work over long distances, not just a few metres, which is key to any live event.