Business News Holding

Tag: tuner

  • Sky Picks Pace STB to Roll-out HD Content in Germany and Austria


    PayTV operator Sky has selected Pace’s HD technology for its set-top box deployments in Germany and Austria, which will begin rolling out in August.

    Pace has been a set-top box technology partner of Sky, formerly Premiere, for a number of years.

    The new DS830 STB gives Sky the full flexibility to roll-out HD services with support for both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.

    Richard Slee, president of Pace, said the DS830 is a classic example of Pace’s ability to design best in class set-top boxes.

    "As it is rolled out, this box is set to become an important part of Sky’s payTV offering and will be the launch-pad for a universe of HD content," he said.

    "We look forward to the success of this product in the market and to the positive effects that its introduction will have on payTV market across German-speaking Europe."

    At the front-end, the fully DVB compliant DS830NP includes one DVB-S2 tuner and one demodulator.

    It incorporates NDS conditional access and Fusion middleware and has an external power supply unit to reduce box size.

    It also meets the criteria outlined in Pace’s own low environmental impact (LEI) initiative.

    Pace recently won the contract to provide an HD-capable set-top box to Latin America’s largest multi-service cable provider – Brazil’s cable operator NET Serviços de Comunicação.

    And in a separate announcement earlier this week, Pace revealed its interim results for the half year ended 30 June 2009, which showed revenue for the period increased to GBP £526.5m, up from £231.1m in the same period last year.

    Demand for Pace’s products drove strong volume growth to 8.5m units, compared to 2.8m units for the same period last year.

  • Commuters on London Underground to be shown adverts on giant HD screens






    Passengers waiting for the tube will have no shortage of distractions now that 14-foot HDTV screens are being installed in stations.
    The cross-track projection (XTP) system, which allows high-quality digital images to be projected on to the walls opposite platforms, has been installed by advertising company CBS Outdoor for London Underground.
    The system, which formally went live on Monday, means that commuters waiting for trains are now faced with moving advertising images displayed on the biggest screens in Europe
    Any profits London Underground receives from XTP will be reinvested to improve the Tube.
    Before rolling out the ads to other stations the system was tested at Euston Tube station.
    Following the success of the pilot, stations at Piccadilly Circus, Euston, Bank, Liverpool Street and Bond Street have now been kitted out with 23 high definition projectors and giant soundless screens that will show trailers for new film releases and other advertising.
    Further stations are scheduled to host XTP technology, which will take the number of screens to 150, which, according to London Undeground, makes it the biggest and most sophisticated system of its kind in Europe.
    Richard Parry, strategy and service director for London Underground said the technology would enhance passengers’ journeys.
    “The Tube has a history of innovation and these hi-tech screens are a perfect complement to the major upgrade work carried out by London Underground in delivering a world-class Tube for a world-class city,” he said.
    CBS Outdoor was awarded a £1.5bn contract to manage advertising on the London Underground in June 2006.
    The media company’s soundless screens are all linked to a new digital advertising network enabling messages to be changed remotely and instantaneously.
    In total, CBS Outdoor’s £72m investment programme includes the installation of 2,000 digital screens across the Tube network and, to date, 1,034 digital screens have been installed, including 181 LCD screens, 830 digital escalator panels and 23 XTP screens.
    All the non-digital sites are currently being replaced with new ‘dry-posting’ material which allows all internal posters to be recycled, removing the need for glue and avoiding 96 tonnes of paper going into landfill every year.