Encoders............................................
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Compressing The Digital Signal
By Margot Suydam
With the roll out of digital television (DTV) well on its way, MPEG -2 encoding is poised to take NAB'99 by storm. Already a staple for digital satellite news gathering, digital commercial insertion and delivery, and VOD/NVOD content, this compression standard is set to increasingly penetrate the broadcast plant for distribution and transmission applications, as well as begin to find a place in postproduction.
Encoding product offerings at the show reflect this growing demand. High definition television (HDTV) encoders, for one, are at the top of many broadcasters' NAB'99 shopping lists. Although DTV encoder manufacturers continue to enter the market with products that are fully ATSC-compliant and support standard definition television (SDTV), the news from the established players at this year's show are next-generation products targeted to meet the needs of the mainstream broadcaster making the first foray into the DTV market.
"The DTV/ATSC market is still in its infancy and there is considerable confusion among broadcasters about their strategy in meeting forecasted FCC deadlines," said Ben Stanger, Communications Manager at Milpitas, CA-based Divicom, Inc. "Because of this confusion, broadcasters will continue to use caution in finalizing plans until they are confident that they understand all of the issues. To lower the risk of transitioning to DTV, Divicom products have been designed to accommodate current and future requirements. This is done by providing additional on-board processing power that can be enabled through software-only upgrades."
A wholly owned subsidiary of C-Cube Microsystems Inc., Divicom will show its MediaView MV400, a MPEG-2 encoder in a one-rack unit high chassis. The first encoder to use the C-Cube Microsystems DVxpertII chip, the MV400 provides a choice of 1080i, 720p and 480p DTV output, supporting ATSC, DVB, and ISDB standards.
San Diego, California-based Tiernan Communications, Inc.'s newest line of products for HDTV broadcasting includes THE 1 DTV encoder, a full-featured DTV encoder supporting both HDTV and SDTV services. A "plug and play" multi-slot architecture supports up to ten modules-- including the main video and audio compression processors. An evolutionary development from Tiernan's field-proven SDTV encoders, the THE 1 digital encoder supports both digital and analog video and audio inputs, in both HDTV and SDTV formats.
"Our HDTV products meet the exacting needs of broadcasters in program contribution and distribution networks that require both MPEG -2 and ATSC compliant solutions," stated Keith Dunford, Tiernan vice president of sales and marketing. "Broadcasters want products they can buy today and not have to replace in a few years if their situation changes. Our THE 1 DTV encoder is all things to all people. Broadcasters can use it either for one channel of HDTV or up to eight channels of SDTV. Tiernan's THE 1 is flexible enough that they can mix and match into new service requirements."
Those looking to enter the market at a lower price point can choose Tiernan's THE 10 HDTV-ATSC broadcast encoder, an economical HDTV real-time encoder meeting the ATSC standard for HDTV broadcasting in either 720p or 1080I formats.
Murray Hill, NJ-based Lucent Digital Video is also expanding its encoder product line to meet the budgetary concerns of broadcasters gearing up for DTV. At NAB'99, Lucent's MPEG-2 DVS (which is sold to over-the-air broadcasters by Harris Corp. as the FlexiCoder) is joined by the HD-P, an HDTV-only encoder.
Lucent Digital Video markets its product line for cable, wireless cable, fiber optic and satellite back-hauling, DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) and other applications worldwide. At NAB'99, Quincy, IL-based Harris is also expanding its FlexiCoder product line to include the HD-only encoder.
"There are a lot of broadcasters who want to get on the air with DTV, but don't want to spend their whole capital budget this year on encoders," said John Mailhot, engineering director at Lucent Digital Video "So we give them the mechanism to get on the air quickly, and upgrade later to add more features. Lucent is also broadening its encoder offering to a product family with the new HD-P, an HD-only board. There are over 1500 call-letter stations in the U.S. Clearly, the ones that have gone digital in the last six months tend to be the ones with bigger budgets. As the rest of them go forward, there is going to be price and feature tradeoffs to be made; attuned to the smaller market stations. We want to make sure we have a range of products we can sell to everybody."
Another company introducing an HDTV-only unit is NDS America, in Newport Beach, CA. The company's current HDTV offering is its Series E5810 encoding system. It uses a bank of six NDS 5610 SDTV encoders that compress and multiplex the digital feed into one chosen ATSC HDTV format signal.
"We designed the Model E5810 encoder it so that it is made up of six SDTV encoders, which can produce one HDTV picture, or can operate in a multichannel SDTV mode," explained Marketing Manager Lisa Hobbs. "We did that to provide flexibility to broadcasters who will not be broadcasting HDTV 24-hours day. If they want to use some of their spectrum in multichannel operation, this product gives then that option.
"We are launching a second encoder, which is aimed at those broadcasters who want to simply get on air with HDTV, and don't necessarily want to do multichannel SDTV," she adds. "It's a compact, two rack-size encoder that will do multiple formats."
General Instruments' Satellite and Broadcast Network Systems business unit, in San Diego, offers the DigiCipher II high definition encoder. Fully ATSC DTV compliant and incorporating Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, the encoder is designed to meet the high quality demands of the broadcast industry.
"With over a decade of digital television expertise and a leadership role in the HD Grand Alliance, the DigiCipher II high definition encoder incorporates a practical implementation of GI's most advanced technology," said Thomas J. Lynch, senior vice president /GM of GI's Satellite and Broadcast Network Systems business unit. "Our pioneering work on digital HDTV is incorporated to produce superior video compression."
Englewood, NJ-based Thomson Broadcast Systems' entry into the DTV encoding arena is the System 5000 multiservice encoder, supporting a full range of video, audio, and data applications. "Ideally it's used in a facility broadcasting multiple services over satellite transponders, cable, or DTV terrestrial channels," said Didier Bruegel, Director of Sales and Marketing. "It provides exceptional video performance using the newest generation Thomson encoding chipset and Dynamux statistical multiplexing scheme."
Supporting ATSC, DVB, and DirecTV standards across various video inputs such as 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i in MP@HL, 4:2:2P@ML, or ML@MP formats, System 5000 employs four types of "plug and play" boards. These include the encoder (for HD, SD, and 4:2:2P applications), the audio board (to support four additional MPEG-1 Layer 2 stereo channels or Dolby AC-3 surround), the multiplexer, and the HD interface (for HDTV applications).
Network Configurations
With the cost of bandwidth declining and telecommunications service providers looking to add video services to their offerings, public telecommunications networks have become an increasingly viable means for the distribution of media between distant sites. As a result, a number of manufactures have developed products built around MPEG-2 encoders that enable broadcaster and postproduction facilities to send video over ATM and other standard networks.
Beaverton OR-based Tektronix's M2-Series trunking video edge device, for example, utilizes a Mitsubishi MPEG encoder, enabling the transmission of contribution-quality video at MPEG-2 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 over ATM and DS3/E3 networks. A flexible architecture supports multiple input or output channels, ranging from MPEG-2 MP@ML (up to 15 Mbps) to MPEG-2 4:2:2P@ML (up to 50 Mbps).
"Increasingly, broadcasters and digital content providers will look for affordable ways to transmit high-quality video over standard networks," said Steven King, vice president/GM of the VideoTele.com business unit of Tektronix' Video and Networking Division. "The combination of high-quality video delivery, Tektronix' adherence to industry standards and an easy-to-use graphical user interface makes the M2-series flexible enough to support a multitude of video-trunking applications, including post production, event coverage and studio/transmitter links."
Equipped with its own MPEG-2 encoders, ECI Telecom's Hi-TV Broadband Multiplexer can also be utilized by broadcasters to transmit MPEG-2 4:2:2 video over ATM networks. Designed for links between studio and transmitter-- either using fiber optics, coax connections or via microwave--Hi-TV's MPEG encoders can operate in two modes: MPEG-2 4:2:2P@ML (for high-end post production and broadcast applications) or MPEG-2 MP@ML (for applications for which consumer-quality is acceptable).
"Our MPEG encoders are designed specifically for the broadcast and post production industry," offered Anthony Magliocco, director of marketing and sales in the Video and Broadband Products Group at ECI Telecom (Los Angeles, CA). "High quality picture performance is critical for video that is destined to be edited or contributed to a final production."
Spot Insertion
Outside the DTV domain, MPEG-2 encoding has already made gains in the area of digital commercial insertion and delivery, and VOD/NVOD content encoding. In addition to hardware-based systems from leading players now entering the HDTV arena, the market has seen the emergence of software-based systems such as St. Petersburg, FL-based Vela Research's Argues 4:2:2.
This Windows NT-based encoding system supports the MPEG-2 4:2:2 encoding profile, and encodes in MPEG-1 IF, MPEG-2 half resolution and MPEG-2 full resolution formats.
DV/MPEG all-in-one package
Editing MPEG has advanced with C-Cube Microsystems's DVxpress-MX, a single-chip codec that makes DV and MPEG (4:2:2/4:2:0) video content interoperable, allowing data to pass from the camera to the editing workstation and then to distribution entirely within the digital domain. DVxpress-MX will allow users to manipulate any combination of DV and MPEG streams for television studio, post production editing and remote broadcast applications, taking advantage of the unique benefits of each format.
"Leading video and broadcast solution providers are endorsing DVxpress-MX as the industry enabler of a new category of all-digital, mixed-format video production system," said Didier LeGall, C-Cube chief technical officer and vice president of R&D. "These organizations will be able to utilize systems based on DVxpress-MX to address the critical market need for seamless communication between MPEG content and all standard DV content, including Panasonic's DVCPRO and DVCPRO50."
At NAB'99 FAST Multimedia US Inc., Seattle, WA is displaying 601 [six-o-one] a new real-time, dual stream, MPEG-2 nonlinear editing system utilizing the DVxpress-MX technology. "Six-o-one is the first editing solution in the world to fully use the MPEG-2 standard...the video format of the future," said Tom Patrick, FAST's marcom manager. "In the variant used by FAST, 'Editing MPEG' (MPEG-2 4:2:2P@ML, I-Frame only), editing is frame accurate."
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