IndianMascot
Core Member
The compression market is heating up ahead of NAB with the main technology vendors making a flurry of announcements as they look to meet the needs of broadcasters and DTH players. This has become a huge issue as most broadcasters are moving to HD, and the topic of ultra-HD – while in its infancy – will place greater demand on compression vendors.
In Asia, DTH players are demanding new technologies to meet their needs, as they look to grow their subscriber bases. In India, the situation is unique, as DTH operators have issues in getting extra satellite capacity; therefore the pressure to maximize the bandwidth available has become more acute. Better compression technologies are a must. Tata Sky has 10.5 million subscribers in India and is growing subscribers at a rapid rate. Yigit Riza, CTO, Tata Sky admits the operator will need to do a “compression upgrade” on a regular basis.
“Expansion satellite capacity has been delayed but the pressure to carry more channels continues. We are in constant touch with compression vendors regarding their development roadmap and regularly testing new encoder hardware and software. We expect to do at least one compression upgrade every year,” he said.
Riza admits the demise of MPEG2 has not happened, the way perhaps some in the industry predicted. “Three or four years ago people thought all the compression vendors were going to focus on MPEG4, and not put much effort into MPEG2. But, that has been far from the case. There are a number of major operators worldwide still on MPEG2 as they are not prepared to swap their STBs to MPEG4. There is therefore still a significant market for MPEG2 compression and the vendors are consequently making investments in improving performance. The vendors provide regular updates on what the percentage bandwidth improvements will be, and what changes they have planned,” he said.
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In Asia, DTH players are demanding new technologies to meet their needs, as they look to grow their subscriber bases. In India, the situation is unique, as DTH operators have issues in getting extra satellite capacity; therefore the pressure to maximize the bandwidth available has become more acute. Better compression technologies are a must. Tata Sky has 10.5 million subscribers in India and is growing subscribers at a rapid rate. Yigit Riza, CTO, Tata Sky admits the operator will need to do a “compression upgrade” on a regular basis.
“Expansion satellite capacity has been delayed but the pressure to carry more channels continues. We are in constant touch with compression vendors regarding their development roadmap and regularly testing new encoder hardware and software. We expect to do at least one compression upgrade every year,” he said.
Riza admits the demise of MPEG2 has not happened, the way perhaps some in the industry predicted. “Three or four years ago people thought all the compression vendors were going to focus on MPEG4, and not put much effort into MPEG2. But, that has been far from the case. There are a number of major operators worldwide still on MPEG2 as they are not prepared to swap their STBs to MPEG4. There is therefore still a significant market for MPEG2 compression and the vendors are consequently making investments in improving performance. The vendors provide regular updates on what the percentage bandwidth improvements will be, and what changes they have planned,” he said.
Wish to Read Further, ------
