Tanberg wins MPEG4 terrestrial digital deal
Tanberg is to deploy a MPEG-4 solution to deliver HD and SD programming via terrestrial digital transmission in New Zealand for its client Freeview. Tanberg is using its iSIS 8000 IP head-end and MPEG-4 AVC encoders. By opting for MPEG-4 video compression, and IP technologies, Tanberg says together with its partners KordiaT and TVWorks they can cost-effectively deliver more channels in less bandwidth, while still maintaining high quality pictures. Tanberg claims its MPEG4 solution will improve efficiency by over 50 per cent compared with MPEG2 solutions.
Digital broadcasting is being slowly rolled out around the world and promises up to seven SD program streams for each "channel" and depending on the program genre, multiple HD channels. Largely forgotten in the excitement about broadband wire-line delivery, the new digital terrestrial networks give the incumbent broadcasters powerful platforms to remain competitive--and in most cases to offer free advertising based services, rather than charge a subscription for multi-channel offerings. The US has mandated a switchover to digital broadcasting in February 2009. Release