If you’re planning to expand your commercial satellite TV setup, you’re going to need more TVs. It’s pretty tempting to go to your local big-box or department store and pick them up at a discount. But will you end up regretting it? There’s a really good chance that you will, especially if you don’t think about what that TV is capable of.
All televisions made today are designed to take digital, over-the-air signals. That means they have a technology called MPEG-2 built into them. What’s MPEG-2? Back in the 1980s, software engineers realized that if people were going to get into digital video in a big way, there would have to be some sort of standard way to compress that video down to a manageable size. Even the standard-definition video used at the time would take about 70-100 gigabytes an hour to transfer unless it was compressed in some way. That kind of speed and power would be hard to accomplish today, let alone 30 years ago. Yet, if everyone came up with their own method of compressing video it would be pure chaos.
That’s why a bunch of folks calling themselves the Moving Picture Experts Group convened in 1988. They came up with voluntary standards for compressing video down without losing a lot of quality. Their first standard was “ok” but it wasn’t great. They had a lot more success with their second standard.
The second standard they created was called MPEG-2. This standard was rolled out in the mid-1990s and ratified by other international organizations as well. This standard became the basis for DVD playback. More importantly it was baked into the broadcast standard adopted by the US for over-the-air TV and DIRECTV’s original satellite broadcasts.
With MPEG-2 you can send an hour of programming and use as little as .4 gigabytes. To get “DVD quality” you need about 2.5 gigabytes an hour. That was very achievable with the technology of the day and it’s something even cheap media players could do by the 2010s.
MPEG-2 was good, but it wasn’t good enough to meet the demand for HD and 4K video streaming. For that, you needed the next major generation of compression, called MPEG-4.
MPEG-4 took a giant leap in the ability to compress high definition files. By the late 2000s, it was used in Blu-ray disc players and DIRECTV’s latest satellite broadcasts. With MPEG-4 you could get passable quality HD with only about 6 gigabytes per hour, with top quality taking about 10-15 gigabytes an hour. MPEG-4 was widely adopted and is still used today for a lot of video transmission, including many headend systems.
I should also mention H.265, which is known by several other names. H.265 is a revision to MPEG-4 that allows for even better quality with drastic levels of compression. With H.265 you can get passable HD with only about 2 gigabytes per hour and passable 4K with only about 7-12 gigabytes per hour. That fits our current streaming capacity fairly well. H.265 isn’t used for commercial TV systems today so I won’t focus on it.
In order to work with modern headend systems, you’ll want a TV that supports MPEG-4. TVs in the US are only required to support MPEG-2, and it’s hard to know for sure if the TV you buy will support the standard you need. Here are some things you can check.
Sometimes you actually get lucky. If you’re looking at commercial grade TVs, they will tell you if they have MPEG-4 support. That’s a good argument for buying commercial grade TVs, honestly. They may not be as cheap as big-box specials but they are generally price competitive with other premium TVs.
As I write this, very few TVs have the ability to decode ATSC 3.0 also known as NextGen TV. This is a proposed new broadcast standard. It’s not required and it’s still in the test phase. But you can buy TVs with these tuners if you look. Unfortunately you may need to look hard because they’re pretty rare.
If your TV has a built-in media player then it “probably” will work for MPEG-4 live video. It’s not 100% guaranteed but if you have that media player then at least you know the hardware supports live video. You’ll find these media players in TVs with the Google TV and Roku TV operating systems, as well as others.
If the TV has an Ethernet port, can it be used for direct IPTV input? You can get this information through the owner’s manual. Just because you see an Ethernet jack doesn’t mean it will accept IPTV through it.
This is really the best way to know if the TV will work for you. Just try it. Of course not everyone will have this ability. But if you do, it’s the final word on whether or not the TV will work for you.
If you’re looking to upgrade a bar/restaurant, office, or hotel, don’t go it alone! Signal Connect has over 20 years of experience upgrading television systems and installing new ones. You don’t have to live with a flaky old headend, and you don’t have to “guess” when deciding to upgrade. Our enterprise team will work with you every step of the way to build out the right system and make sure it works perfectly on day 1.
When you’re ready to see what real customer service is like, call the experts. We’re here for you during East Coast business hours at 888-233-7563 and 24 hours a day by filling out the form below.
The post Does your TV work with MPEG-4? Here’s how to know for sure appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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A little bit about MPEG
All televisions made today are designed to take digital, over-the-air signals. That means they have a technology called MPEG-2 built into them. What’s MPEG-2? Back in the 1980s, software engineers realized that if people were going to get into digital video in a big way, there would have to be some sort of standard way to compress that video down to a manageable size. Even the standard-definition video used at the time would take about 70-100 gigabytes an hour to transfer unless it was compressed in some way. That kind of speed and power would be hard to accomplish today, let alone 30 years ago. Yet, if everyone came up with their own method of compressing video it would be pure chaos.
That’s why a bunch of folks calling themselves the Moving Picture Experts Group convened in 1988. They came up with voluntary standards for compressing video down without losing a lot of quality. Their first standard was “ok” but it wasn’t great. They had a lot more success with their second standard.
MPEG-2
The second standard they created was called MPEG-2. This standard was rolled out in the mid-1990s and ratified by other international organizations as well. This standard became the basis for DVD playback. More importantly it was baked into the broadcast standard adopted by the US for over-the-air TV and DIRECTV’s original satellite broadcasts.
With MPEG-2 you can send an hour of programming and use as little as .4 gigabytes. To get “DVD quality” you need about 2.5 gigabytes an hour. That was very achievable with the technology of the day and it’s something even cheap media players could do by the 2010s.
MPEG-2 was good, but it wasn’t good enough to meet the demand for HD and 4K video streaming. For that, you needed the next major generation of compression, called MPEG-4.
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 took a giant leap in the ability to compress high definition files. By the late 2000s, it was used in Blu-ray disc players and DIRECTV’s latest satellite broadcasts. With MPEG-4 you could get passable quality HD with only about 6 gigabytes per hour, with top quality taking about 10-15 gigabytes an hour. MPEG-4 was widely adopted and is still used today for a lot of video transmission, including many headend systems.
I should also mention H.265, which is known by several other names. H.265 is a revision to MPEG-4 that allows for even better quality with drastic levels of compression. With H.265 you can get passable HD with only about 2 gigabytes per hour and passable 4K with only about 7-12 gigabytes per hour. That fits our current streaming capacity fairly well. H.265 isn’t used for commercial TV systems today so I won’t focus on it.
How to know if your TV supports MPEG-4 playback
In order to work with modern headend systems, you’ll want a TV that supports MPEG-4. TVs in the US are only required to support MPEG-2, and it’s hard to know for sure if the TV you buy will support the standard you need. Here are some things you can check.
Does the spec say it supports MPEG-4 live video?
Sometimes you actually get lucky. If you’re looking at commercial grade TVs, they will tell you if they have MPEG-4 support. That’s a good argument for buying commercial grade TVs, honestly. They may not be as cheap as big-box specials but they are generally price competitive with other premium TVs.
Does the TV have a “NextGenTV tuner” built-in?
As I write this, very few TVs have the ability to decode ATSC 3.0 also known as NextGen TV. This is a proposed new broadcast standard. It’s not required and it’s still in the test phase. But you can buy TVs with these tuners if you look. Unfortunately you may need to look hard because they’re pretty rare.
Does the TV have a built-in media player?
If your TV has a built-in media player then it “probably” will work for MPEG-4 live video. It’s not 100% guaranteed but if you have that media player then at least you know the hardware supports live video. You’ll find these media players in TVs with the Google TV and Roku TV operating systems, as well as others.
Will the TV accept live video through the Ethernet port?
If the TV has an Ethernet port, can it be used for direct IPTV input? You can get this information through the owner’s manual. Just because you see an Ethernet jack doesn’t mean it will accept IPTV through it.
Is there a way to test the TV in a headend situation?
This is really the best way to know if the TV will work for you. Just try it. Of course not everyone will have this ability. But if you do, it’s the final word on whether or not the TV will work for you.
Your best partner for commercial TV distribution
If you’re looking to upgrade a bar/restaurant, office, or hotel, don’t go it alone! Signal Connect has over 20 years of experience upgrading television systems and installing new ones. You don’t have to live with a flaky old headend, and you don’t have to “guess” when deciding to upgrade. Our enterprise team will work with you every step of the way to build out the right system and make sure it works perfectly on day 1.
When you’re ready to see what real customer service is like, call the experts. We’re here for you during East Coast business hours at 888-233-7563 and 24 hours a day by filling out the form below.
The post Does your TV work with MPEG-4? Here’s how to know for sure appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
