Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 9, 2005. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
At IBC, compression specialist Harmonic is presenting, by its own account, the industry’s first encoding platform that allows the simultaneous encoding of multiple channels with different video and audio compression standards into different formats. This is intended to enable broadcasters to prepare video services for the most varied categories of playback devices – such as televisions or mobile phones – using just one encoder.
The solution goes significantly beyond previous single-codec multichannel encoding. By its own understanding, Harmonic is ushering in the era of multiservice encoding with the product, in which operators can quickly introduce new services – for example enhanced picture-in-picture, personalised programme guides or high-quality streaming offerings for handhelds.
“Harmonic’s DiviCom Electra 5000 delivers the highest compression performance and flexibility for existing and future applications,” explains Patrick Harshman, president of the Californian manufacturer’s Convergent Systems Division: “This versatile system supports video output for a growing number of devices and facilitates the construction of the respective video service infrastructure.” The encoding platform supports any combination of MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and SMPTE VC-1. It can encode one channel into multiple formats, multiple channels into one format or various channels into different formats – without reducing the video quality or performance of a channel, Harmonic promises. According to the company’s presentation, the Electra 5000 simultaneously supports applications with variable (VBR) or constant bit rate (CBR).
Harmonic is showing the encoding solution during the trade fair both at the company booth (1.361) and in the “IBC Mobile Zone” at booth 310.
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