HBO to go all-digital, all MPEG-4 in 2008

[rtt2]

HBO to go all-digital, all MPEG-4 in 2008
By Brian Santo
June 20, 2007

HBO executive vice president of technology Robert M. Zitter dropped a minor bombshell this morning, saying that HBO is going to transmit content entirely in HD, encoded in MPEG-4, starting next year.

The announcement came during a Cable-Tec Expo panel called Building the Sustainable, Competitive Network, which also hosted executives from Charter Communications, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable. One exec was visibly struck by the info, as if he were immediately calculating the ramifications for his company.

There have been significant improvements in MPEG-4 in the last year, Zitter said, encouraging HBO to make the move. MPEG-2 is still viable, he said, but HBO simply can't transmit 26 channels all in HD using MPEG-2. "MPEG-4 is going to be the silver bullet in our holsters a few years from now."

That will put pressure on cable operators, who will still have plenty of legacy boxes deployed that cannot handle MPEG-4.

"If it was my choice, I would simulcast in 2 and 4," said Marwan Fawaz, CTO of Charter Communications.

Instead, operators will have to deploy transcoders to convert MPEG-4 streams into MPEG-2 video before broadcasting it to those boxes, and start deploying boxes that will accept both forms of MPEG.

Zitter also said HBO intends to transmit its MPEG-4 video at 8 Mbps. When asked how HBO arrived at that rate, Zitter said it was a subjective decision, based on what looked good, with some added overhead for transcoding.
Source:News summary for 6/20/07

 

[rtt2]

"Zitter also said HBO intends to transmit its MPEG-4 video at 8 Mbps."

Now the question becomes, what will providers pass through

 

[dfergie]

Nice find! this is a bombshell for other providers... Here is a different view...

HBO Bets Big on MPEG-4
JUNE 20, 2007 ORLANDO, Fla. -- If you're a cable operator and you're thinking about carrying HBO's expanded lineup of linear, high-definition television (HDTV) networks, you had better get a plan in place right quick to deal with a flood of MPEG-4-based content that will be coming through your door.
That's because the premium programmer plans to distribute its bevy of HD channels in the bandwidth-saving codec via satellite, according to Robert Zitter, HBO's CTO and executive VP of technology, who spoke here Wednesday morning at a special panel that preceded the official opening of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Cable-Telecommunications Engineers Cable-Tec Expo.

Earlier this month, the programmer announced that all 26 of its HBO and Cinemax channels would be offered in hi-def. The transition will begin in the fourth quarter of this year, with an expected completion by the end of the second quarter of 2008. (See HBO to Beef Up HD Menu .)
Zitter said HBO had no choice but to go with the advanced codec because of the bandwidth savings it offers over MPEG-2. Besides, MPEG-4, he maintained, "is ready for prime time."
Zitter estimates that each HDTV feed will be delivered in that format at 8 Mbit/s, which provides the necessary amount of bits to produce a high-quality picture but leaves enough headroom (about 1 Mbit/s) to ensure the quality of the signal is not damaged when transcoded to MPEG-2. "We think we've reached the tipping point for high-def," Zitter said.
HBO's decision will present special challenges for cable operators (and some telco TV providers) that are offering digital video today only in the MPEG-2 format. As of March 2007, the U.S. cable industry had about 34 million digital cable subs, and pretty much all of them are being served by set-tops that can decode only MPEG-2 signals.
MSOs and telcos alike will have to adjust to HBO's plans with MPEG-4 to keep up with competitors like DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV - message board), which has already declared it will offer as many as 150 HDTV channels… once that many are actually available from the programming community.
Operators on the morning session understood HBO's decision to go with MPEG-4, given the high costs of transporting those HD signals.
But, if MSOs had their druthers, they'd rather see HBO simulcast those HD feeds in both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Since that won't be the case, cable operators will have to figure out how to transcode those signals for the industry's massive legacy base of MPEG-2 set-tops, according to Marwan Fawaz, the chief technology officer and executive vice president of Charter Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR - message board).
For its part, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) has been cooking up a new series of Residential Network Gateway (RNG) set-tops that can decode both MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 signals. Comcast expects to test some of those products in the second half of this year, with commercial rollouts beginning in early 2008, said John Schanz, Comcast Cable's executive vice president of national engineering and technical operations.
More generally, the session touched on strategies cable operators can leverage to build and sustain competitive networks using tools such as advanced coding, switched digital video (SDV), analog spectrum reclamation, and even bandwidth expansion.
MSOs must have those tools "sharpened and in use now" to handle coming bandwidth pressures, including HDTV, said Jim Ludington, the senior vice president of the Advanced Technology Group of Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC - message board), which has already announced plans to deploy SDV in 50 percent of its markets by the end of this year. "If you're thinking [about those tools] now… it's too late," he said.
Fawaz said Charter expects to launch SDV in "most of our markets eventually." It will look at 1GHz technologies only in new builds or extensions of plant into new markets.
"Most of us have networks that have reached capacity, and we have to do something about it, and we are doing something about it," Fawaz said.
Operators must also keep a close eye on their nodes, streams, and sessions, to help them determine what capacity they actually have and what's being used, according to Robert Cruickshank, vice president of worldwide OSS strategy and product management for C-COR Corp. (Nasdaq: CCBL - message board), sponsor of the morning session. Operators, he added, must "pay attention to where the hotspots are."
— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News


Source: Cable Digital News - Video - HBO Bets Big on MPEG-4 - Telecom News Analysis

 

[mwgiii]

"If it was my choice, I would simulcast in 2 and 4," said Marwan Fawaz, CTO of Charter Communications.

There's a shocker. Charter blindsided. I wish they would finally sell out to a real cable company.


Excellent find rtt2!

 

[Cyclone]

Dish Network Commandos released Zitter's kids after the announcement.

 

[richiephx]

"Zitter also said HBO intends to transmit its MPEG-4 video at 8 Mbps."

Now the question becomes, what will providers pass through

Am I imagining it but, did Charlie say on the last Charlie Chat that E* passes the signal as they receive it? If that is a true statement then the picture quality should be fairly good?

 

[dfergie]

It should be as MaxHD is already Mpeg4 on Dishnet... have to see what bitrates it is running.

 

[truckracer]

End of HBO for c-band customers on 4dtv?

 

[mdwatt]

It should be as MaxHD is already Mpeg4 on Dishnet... have to see what bitrates it is running.

How do you find out what bitrate a channel is being broadcast at?

 

[Neutron]

Glad I'm not a cable customer!!

Dfergie, how can you find out what the bitrate is for MaxHD when you're watching it late at night?

 

[Brewer4]

Cable?? I love how people are ripping Directv for the 100 HD channels by the end of the year and Cable Cos keep throwing statements out that we can do unlimited or 200 when they arent even ready to handle MPEG4 which is clearly the superior compression and PQ format.

 

[iammike]

End of HBO for c-band customers on 4dtv?

That's what it sounds like to me. I may have to ask the Nextcomm guys what they charge for moving a R5000 mod from a 922 to a Dish receiver.

 

[rtt2]

Must be a good time to be in the encoding business - just think how many headends will have to reconvert the signal to MPEG2

 

[dfergie]

HBO Goes Moto for Hi-Def Compression

Premium Cable Programmer Converting All 26 Services to HD by Mid-2008

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/9/2007 2:44:00 PM

Premium-cable programmer HBO said it will use advanced compression technology from Motorola to support the transition of all 26 of its HBO and Cinemax networks to high-definition transmission -- a process scheduled to be completed by mid-2008.
HBO -- which has used Motorola's DigiCipher II MPEG-2 compression systems to deliver its standard-definition channels in digital form since the mid-1990s -- is switching its transmission scheme to MPEG-4 AVC encoders to conserve satellite bandwidth as it launches 24 new HD channels, in addition to the HD feeds of the primary HBO and Cinema networks it currently provides.
Direct-broadcast satellite service DirecTV, which also uses MPEG-4 compression for HD feeds, has already committed to carrying 10 of the new HBO HD channels.
While DirecTV is rolling out MPEG-4 compliant HD set-tops to support its HD expansion, the existing universe of cable set-tops uses MPEG-2, although operators have been ordering new boxes with MPEG-4 decoding capability.
As such, Motorola will supply HBO with new multiformat integrated receiver/decoder units that will deliver HD channels in both MPEG-4/AVC and MPEG-2 formats to cable affiliates. HBO will continue to deliver MPEG-2 versions of its existing HD networks (HBO HD East/West and Cinemax HD East/West), as well as new MPEG-4 streams of those channels. All of the new HD networks will be delivered in MPEG-4 only, so affiliates that want to carry them will either need MPEG-4 boxes or transcoding gear that converts them to MPEG-2. Motorola will also handle encryption and modulation of HBO's HD signals as part of a single integrated transmission system.
"HBO has a long history of delivering great programming in the highest quality and, just as we were the first to launch a high-definition feed, we are now the first to commit to the full breadth of our channels in HD,” said Bob Zitter, HBO executive vice president of technology and chief technology officer, in a statement. "Motorola's implementation of the highly efficient MPEG-4 encoding standard provides the quality that we require and that our customers expect.”
The HBO contract is a significant win for Motorola's compression and transmission business, which was an early leader in digital transmission with its DigiCipher products but has since lost market share to compression specialists like Tandberg Television and Harmonic. In that vein, the cable-equipment giant bought MPEG-4 compression specialist Modulus Video in May. Motorola had already been reselling Modulus' MPEG-4 products to its customers.
"We are very pleased to work with HBO on this important industry project," said Doug Means, corporate VP and general manager of Motorola Home and Networks Mobility, in a statement. "We expect this project to change the way programmers approach large-scale high- and standard-definition content distribution.”

Source: Broadcasting & Cable