Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maya who wrote (43164)	7/18/1999 1:33:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

NDS, C-Cube customer, Divicom competitor.......................... broadcastingcable.com Date Posted: 7/16/1999 USA's StationWorks gears up With NDS compression gear, facility will feed digital programming to 13 stations By Glen Dickson USA Broadcasting has selected NDS Americas to supply DTV compression gear for the centralized master control facility it is creating in Ontario, Calif. USA's StationWorks facility, which shares space with KHSC-TV Los Angeles, will eventually supply both NTSC and DTV feeds to all 13 USA stations over two-way fiber optic connections. The move will cut down the amount of master control personnel and equipment needed at individual USA stations. While financial terms of the NDS deal weren't disclosed, USA executives have previously indicated that USA will spend $50 million on the StationWorks facility and upgrades at the stations to allow for remote operation. NDS is supplying USA with its Series E5610 MPEG-2 encoders and its MPEG splicer, which will allow USA to insert compressed spots into the digital program stream, along with PC-based control systems. NDS has already delivered enough compression gear to Ontario to support four stations, says Tom Mann, USA's vice president of engineering and new technology, and those systems are currently being tested. USA plans to serve all of its stations remotely from Ontario within the next 18-24 months. "The concept is that we are making up both the analog and ATSC MPEG streams at Ontario and distributing them over bidirectional fiber," says Mann. "The station contributes spots and local programming, which are sent back over fiber and cached in a large disk array." Mann adds that USA stations will also have the ability to insert spots locally through the MPEG splicers, though most spot insertion will happen in Ontario. "[It gives us] better management of it," says Mann. "We have very big servers that hold the data and programming in Ontario, and we can get better control and better quality insurance. The signal making up our on-air is literally built in Ontario and plugs right into the transmitter." USA is using Philips MediaPool servers to store content in Ontario. DS-3 fiber distribution is supplied by Vyvx, which is also supplying USA with its new spot-warehousing service. "We will have multiple avenues," says Mann. "National spots will be warehoused in Vyvx's Tulsa spot warehouse and downloaded to us on glass anywhere from minutes to 24 hours before the broadcast day begins. On a local spot basis, a local advertiser who wanted to subscribe to Vyvx could take it that way. With smaller advertisers, the spot will probably be delivered to the station and backhauled on the two-way glass, unless it occurs at the last second, where it will be run by automation at long distance." While Mann isn't specific about USA's DTV programming plans, he says the NDS ATSC compression systems are capable of compressing seven standard-definition program streams into one 6 mhz DTV channel.