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To: DiViT who wrote (29037)	2/2/1998 5:17:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

4:2:2 encoders from NDS.......................................... NDS Americas' Role in First Successful 4:2:2 Digital Signal Via Satellite and DS3 Link Leads to NDS Encoder Selection for Bell Canada's 1998 Winter Olympics Broadcast BUSINESS WIRE Mon, Feb 02 1998 NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 2, 1998-- Trial Proves DS3 Infrastructures Provide Viable Alternatives for Digital Video Transmission NDS Americas, the growing U.S division of NDS Ltd. and a leading worldwide provider of end-to-end solutions for digital broadcasting, today announced that it has completed the first successful encoding and transmission of 4:2:2 digital signals via a satellite and DS3 telecom link. Because DS3 has never been tested for use with multiple MPEG-2 4:2:2 format digital video feeds in conjunction with satellite, the trial marks an industry milestone and establishes existing DS3 infrastructures as a viable transmission alternative for digital video feeds down-linked from a satellite to earth stations. As a result of this trial, Bell Canada has purchased NDS 4:2:2 encoders to expand digital programming throughout Canada and to broadcast the upcoming 1998 Winter Olympics from Nagano, Japan. Fast action sports programming has traditionally challenged digital broadcasters with ghosting and artifacts in the video, so the test used two channels of high-intensity sports material (downhill skiing and auto racing). The success was measured by the retained picture quality of the compressed digital feed as each channel was piped through the transmission chain over DS3 compressed in 4:2:2P@ML format between 18 and 20 Mbps -- without video picture degradation. 4:2:2 encoding offers broadcasters the ability to compress, decompress and re-compress many times an original digital source feed without experiencing picture degradation commonly associated with 4:2:0 compression techniques. Using NDS 4:2:2 encoders and Network Adapter units, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC), Bell Canada and Teleglobe Canada provided the trial network to test the viability of digitally broadcasting the 1998 Winter Olympic games to Canadian viewers. The two channels of sports material tested were digitally compressed at CBC's headquarters in Toronto. The compressed video feeds were transmitted via Bell Canada's DS3 telecom facility using a 45 Mbps link to Vancouver. The signals (still in MPEG-2 4:2:2 format) were modulated for satellite transmission using a Newtek 8PSK modulator upon arriving in Vancouver at Teleglobe's Lake Cowichan satellite earth station. The feed was then uplinked to IntelSat 180 and downlinked back to the facility, where it was demodulated and sent back to Toronto via DS3 for monitoring. "NDS was very helpful in facilitating this challenging test," said Rick Holder, solutions integration advisor, Broadcast/Image Services, Bell Canada. "The company's reputation for superior compression technology and product reliability has extended to its line of 4:2:2P@ML encoders, and Bell Canada is very pleased to be working with NDS to expand our own digital video transmission capabilities for broadcast of the 1998 Winter Olympics." About DS3 DS3 combines 28 1.544 Mbps channels (an equivalent of 28 T1 lines) for a total bandwidth of 45Mbps. Digital video broadcasters can allocate DS3 bandwidth in any combination of sports, non-sports, PPV, NVOD, audio or data programming. For example, digital video can be transmitted anywhere between 2 Mbps and 18 Mbps depending on the complexity of the video feed. In the case of the NDS and Canadian broadcasters' Olympic trial, the remaining 9 Mbps minus overhead could have been used to add two or three additional channels of 4:2:0 programming, or a combination of audio and high-speed data services. About NDS Americas Inc. NDS Americas is located in Newport Beach and is part of the company's worldwide operations with corporate headquarters based in the United Kingdom. The company provides complete end-to-end solutions for digital broadcasting and has worldwide manufacturing and support facilities. NDS is a recognized leader in digital video compression, conditional access, and has proven systems integration and global support capabilities. NDS is providing its advanced technologies, products and services to 18 of the 30 current and planned digital satellite and terrestrial broadcasting systems around the world. Some of NDS' key customers in the Americas include DIRECTV, INTELSAT, Galaxy Latin America, NetSat and Innova. In addition, over 8 million subscribers around the globe use NDS conditional access systems to receive pay TV satellite and cable services. NDS plays a major part in developing open systems and the international standards for the digital broadcasting arena, providing the technology and market know-how to implement standards such as MPEG-2, DVB, DTTV and ATSC. The company continues to make a major commitment to R&D, with more than 700 of its 1,200 plus employees dedicated to its pioneering development work. NDS is part of the News Technology Group, responsible for News Corp.'s high technology companies. NDS has won many awards for technology including an Emmy from The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and in the United Kingdom, two Queen's Awards, one for Technology and one for Expert. Visit NDS on its World Wide Web site located at: ndsworld.com. (Copyright 1998)