Which after yesterdays news Dish HD Channels will increase.
VBR, MPEG-4 Implementations Already Define HD Distribution Lead > Screenplays Magazine > Flash Points
VBR, MPEG-4 Implementations Already Define HD Distribution Lead
Cable operators, currently lagging in HDTV offerings, have reason to envy two technologies in the hands of competitors. Satellite and DVD purveyors use variable bit rate multiplexing, and IPTV telcos have raced ahead with MPEG-4 compression.
In the first half of 2007, those technologies--and cable's lack of them--produced a competitive field that looks like the following, according to Marc Tayer, senior vice president, business development, for digital distribution equipment supplier Imagine Communications:
Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS):
• EchoStar – 36 HD channels
• DirecTV – 16 HD channels plus NFL Ticket in HD
Telco TV:
• AT&T – 28 HD channels
• Verizon FiOS – 21 HD channels
Cable:
• Typical Operator – 10 to 20 HD channels
That tally is not lost on operators like Cox, whose CEO Patrick Esser has asked his engineers to make space for 50 HD channels by year’s end. Other suppliers, cable programmers and the operators themselves know the winning edge is no mystery either: bandwidth efficiency.
In this regard, the cable operators may be thankful that their competitors are proving out and lowering the costs of the two key bandwidth efficiency tools in the field.
In the case of variable bit-rate (VBR) multiplexing, direct broadcast satellite operators (DBS) are squeezing more HD data into less bandwidth, and DVDs employ VBR to squeeze more HD bits onto a disc.
In the case of MPEG-4, system on a chip (SoC) set-top boxes began this past spring to enable AT&T U-verse and other switched IPTV services to offer HD even over relatively slow DSL connections. Some programmers are sold on MPEG-4 efficiency and maturity for their own wholesale costs and quality. As reported last week in FlashPoints, HBO revealed in June that it will use MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding) compression to deliver the HDTV versions of all 26 HBO and Cinemax channels to cable and telco headends by year’s end.
While AT&T and other telcos hit the video services starting line with MPEG-4, sunk costs in MPEG-2 set-top boxes will provide a stumbling block for both cable and DBS operators. New set-tops can incorporate dual MPEG-4/2 decoders, but unlike AT&T, neither Comcast or DirecTV can instantly offer reams of MPEG-4-enabled HD channels to any and all subscribers.
However, Comcast and other MSOs can fairly rapidly employ VBR at headends, where they already receive satellite feeds from programmers in VBR form. Suppliers including BigBand, Cisco/Scientific-Atlanta EGT, Imagine and Tandberg Television presented one or both technologies as ready for cable at the mid-summer Cable-Tec Expo, and VBR clearly made the hotlist with operators, many of whom already are accelerating plans to deploy switched digital video (SDV) equipment later this year.
Operators like Comcast are aware of the pressure. To set benchmarks for the quality that consumers will expect, Comcast Media Center has made a comprehensive study of HD offerings from a long list of sources, including DBS, DVD, HD camcorders, Xbox, Playstation, AppleTV, iTunes, U-verse, Akimbo and CinemaNow, says Ren Finley, director, advanced engineering. In addition to the fact he says, “When people see the quality of HD camcorders, they are going to notice” that $700, 42-inch HDTVs now widely available “are really good at showing flaws.”
VBR, MPEG-4 Implementations Already Define HD Distribution Lead > Screenplays Magazine > Flash Points
VBR, MPEG-4 Implementations Already Define HD Distribution Lead
Cable operators, currently lagging in HDTV offerings, have reason to envy two technologies in the hands of competitors. Satellite and DVD purveyors use variable bit rate multiplexing, and IPTV telcos have raced ahead with MPEG-4 compression.
In the first half of 2007, those technologies--and cable's lack of them--produced a competitive field that looks like the following, according to Marc Tayer, senior vice president, business development, for digital distribution equipment supplier Imagine Communications:
Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS):
• EchoStar – 36 HD channels
• DirecTV – 16 HD channels plus NFL Ticket in HD
Telco TV:
• AT&T – 28 HD channels
• Verizon FiOS – 21 HD channels
Cable:
• Typical Operator – 10 to 20 HD channels
That tally is not lost on operators like Cox, whose CEO Patrick Esser has asked his engineers to make space for 50 HD channels by year’s end. Other suppliers, cable programmers and the operators themselves know the winning edge is no mystery either: bandwidth efficiency.
In this regard, the cable operators may be thankful that their competitors are proving out and lowering the costs of the two key bandwidth efficiency tools in the field.
In the case of variable bit-rate (VBR) multiplexing, direct broadcast satellite operators (DBS) are squeezing more HD data into less bandwidth, and DVDs employ VBR to squeeze more HD bits onto a disc.
In the case of MPEG-4, system on a chip (SoC) set-top boxes began this past spring to enable AT&T U-verse and other switched IPTV services to offer HD even over relatively slow DSL connections. Some programmers are sold on MPEG-4 efficiency and maturity for their own wholesale costs and quality. As reported last week in FlashPoints, HBO revealed in June that it will use MPEG-4 AVC (Advanced Video Coding) compression to deliver the HDTV versions of all 26 HBO and Cinemax channels to cable and telco headends by year’s end.
While AT&T and other telcos hit the video services starting line with MPEG-4, sunk costs in MPEG-2 set-top boxes will provide a stumbling block for both cable and DBS operators. New set-tops can incorporate dual MPEG-4/2 decoders, but unlike AT&T, neither Comcast or DirecTV can instantly offer reams of MPEG-4-enabled HD channels to any and all subscribers.
However, Comcast and other MSOs can fairly rapidly employ VBR at headends, where they already receive satellite feeds from programmers in VBR form. Suppliers including BigBand, Cisco/Scientific-Atlanta EGT, Imagine and Tandberg Television presented one or both technologies as ready for cable at the mid-summer Cable-Tec Expo, and VBR clearly made the hotlist with operators, many of whom already are accelerating plans to deploy switched digital video (SDV) equipment later this year.
Operators like Comcast are aware of the pressure. To set benchmarks for the quality that consumers will expect, Comcast Media Center has made a comprehensive study of HD offerings from a long list of sources, including DBS, DVD, HD camcorders, Xbox, Playstation, AppleTV, iTunes, U-verse, Akimbo and CinemaNow, says Ren Finley, director, advanced engineering. In addition to the fact he says, “When people see the quality of HD camcorders, they are going to notice” that $700, 42-inch HDTVs now widely available “are really good at showing flaws.”
