Business News Holding

Tag: iptv

  • Breakthrough claimed for live HD video transmission

    NextIO technology allows real-time video encoding at under 3Mbps – making it possible to deliver live HDTV at compression up to six times higher than current rates

    Cable, satellite and IPTV providers will be able to pack more HD video onto limited bandwidth using technology developed by NextIO and Broadcast International.

    The pair have teamed up to combine NextIO’s ExpressConnect solution and BI’s ultra-high speed video compression technology.

    In a statement released before the IPTV North America show in Chicago, the companies said that the combined technologies would “change the video distribution world” by making it possible for video providers to deliver live HDTV at compression levels four to six times higher than is currently possible.

    Conservation of limited bandwidth resources has become a critical requirement in the broadcast, cable, satellite, mobile and IPTV markets, especially as bandwidth-intensive, high-definition video becomes the industry standard.

    At the Chicago show, NextIO, specialists in virtualized I/O solutions, and Broadcast International, producers of low-bandwidth video compression software, demonstrated a real-time video encoding at under 3Mbps.

    This is compared to the MPEG 2 standard of 19.4 Mbps at which most HD video is transmitted.
    The two companies say this will enable video providers to pack more HD video onto limited bandwidth.

    In a statement released before the Chicago show, they said the NextIO technology solves one of the most important challenges encountered by high-speed HD video transmission – limited and limiting input/output (I/O) throughput.

    “The ultra-high speed connections provided by the Next/I/O’s PCI Express-based ExpressConnect solutions allow maximum and scalable data flow to the system, commensurate with the processing power of the IBM BladeCenter environment,” the statement said.

    “This input speed, combined with the unrivaled power of the underlying CPU technology, enables BI’s CodecSys video compression software to deliver encoded HD video in real-time at breakthrough rates, under 3 Mbps.”

    Rod Tiede, CEO of Broadcast International, said the technology offered an “unmatched solution” to the challenge of video compression.
    “The scalability of the NextI/O design provides us the ability to deliver a large number of high definition video inputs to our system without delays and to take full advantage of the processing capabilities of the IBM platform,” he said.
    “Our aim is to shatter the bandwidth barrier completely with our solution.”

  • Japan to use audience rating system to discover IPTV programme preferences

    A viewer rating system developed by Oki Electric Industry is to be used in Japan to collect information on the viewing habits of IPTV users.
    Existing ground-based broadcasting systems have the means to gather viewership data, such as user preference and viewer history.
    Broadcasting companies say this information is important in enabling them to improve services.
    However, until now there has been are no equivalent user information collection functions for IPTV services.
    OKI’s IPTV Audience Rating Information System allows service providers, with the authorisation of users, to obtain information about when and which channel and programs the users watched.
    The system will collect the viewership data in the form of an “audience rating library” on the user’s device, which will then be encrypted, sent to and registered in the database server at the IPTV distribution centre.
    This information will then be printed out as viewership reports which service providers can offer to programme producers.
    Masa Saito, general manager of IP Systems Division at OKI, said the system, which uses the company’s eVideo technology, would ensure the efficient delivery of high quality video over IP networks.
    “We have been proposing the technology to handle audience rating information to ASTAP, Asia’s communication standard organisation and FG-IPTV in ITU, the UN’s agency for information and communication technologies, as we believe open standards are important in improving IPTV service and technologies,” he said.
    “We will continue our activities within IPTV-GSI, the IPTV standardisation initiative, to promote international standardization to enrich IPTV services.”
    Telecom carriers in Japan are expected to increase their IPTV service provisioning with the start of next-generation network (NGN) services, and as the ITU works on setting international standards.