NTT DoCoMo Android-based cell phone?

According to InfoWorld, Japan's biggest mobile telecom carrier gave its strongest support yet to Google's Android platform on Thursday when it said it is considering a cell phone based on the technology.

"We are starting discussions to offer handsets that will have the Android operating system," said Takeshi Natsuno, managing director of the multimedia services department at NTT DoCoMo.

The talks include getting support for I-mode, DoCoMo's hit mobile Internet service, on the Android platform. Nearly 48 million of DoCoMo's 53 million customers subscribe to I-mode, so having it on Android will be key to the Google platform's success in Japan.

Android is a Linux-based platform for cell phones that will combine open source components and include an operating system, a middleware stack, a customizable user interface, and applications.

NTT DoCoMo is one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, the group developing Android. Until Thursday, it hadn't disclosed what it hoped to gain from its participation in the group, which comprises about 40 companies, including some of the biggest names in the cell phone industry.

"When I look at the prototype, the Android-based handset works really well even on some of the cheaper handset designs," said Natsuno.
full story

Press release Article

NTT DoCoMo and Google to Partner in Mobile Internet Services

Tokyo, January 24, 2008 - NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (Headquartered in Tokyo; President & CEO Masao Nakamura) and Google Inc. (Headquartered in California; Chairman & CEO; Eric Schmidt) today jointly announced that they formed a partnership that includes providing search services, search-related advertisement and potential applications to i-mode™ users.

The two companies will also collaborate to enhance the user-friendliness of i-mode services, by making various Google services easier to access through i-mode handsets. The default pre-loading of Google Maps™ application into upcoming DoCoMo i-mode handsets is one of the initial initiatives being discussed.

A summary of the agreement items follows.

1. Purpose of this partnership:
Google, one of the largest search engines in the world, is aiming to fulfill the mission of "organizing the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." i-mode, the pioneering mobile Internet service provided by DoCoMo, boasts nearly 48 million mobile Internet users. By connecting i-mode with various services provided by Google, the parties together intend to increase accessibility, user-friendliness and further develop the usefulness of mobile Internet services in the Japanese market.

2. Outline of this partnership:
(1) Extension of search services on i-mode
In addition to the existing i-mode menu site search service, through the partnership with Google, i-mode users will be served Google search results for mobile and PC web sites via the i-mode portal search-box. Launch of the expanded search services is scheduled in spring 2008. The new search-box will be placed on the top-page of the i-mode portal, increasing the immediate accessibility and convenience of searches on i-mode.

(2) Search-related advertisements
Simultaneously with the launch of the new search services in spring 2008, key-word based advertisements using Google's ad platform AdWords™ will also be provided on the search-result pages in conjunction with the search results.

(3) More Google services for i-mode handsets
As a first initiative beyond searches, Google Maps for Mobile is under discussion to become a standard pre-installed application on upcoming i-mode handsets to be launched in the near future. The parties are also planning to collaborate around other services and search-related functions. The parties intend to make it easier for i-mode users to use Google services such as Gmail™, YouTube™ and Picasa™ by giving users more seamless and immediate access over the mobile phone. Furthermore, in all upcoming DoCoMo full-browser capable handsets, Google will be set to appear as the default start-page on the full-browser.

(4) Other possible mobile marketing services
Google, in conjunction with DoCoMo and its subsidiaries, will also further study the possibility of new mobile marketing services directed towards i-mode users.

(5) Possible deployment of Android™ platform
DoCoMo and Google will also continue to study the possibility of bringing Android based handsets to the Japanese market. Android, a revolutionary platform for mobile phones, was announced by the Open Handset Alliance™ (OHA) last fall, in which Google was the key initiator of the Android project.

About NTT DoCoMo, Inc.

NTT DoCoMo is the world's leading mobile communications company. DoCoMo serves over 53 million customers, including 40 million people subscribing to FOMA™, launched as the world's first 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA in 2001. DoCoMo also offers a wide variety of leading-edge mobile multimedia services, including i-mode, the world's most popular mobile e-mail/Internet service, used by nearly 48 million people. With the addition of credit-card and other e-wallet functions, DoCoMo mobile phones have become highly versatile tools for daily life. NTT DoCoMo is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and New York (DCM) stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.nttdocomo.com.

i-mode and FOMA are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries.
NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service is only available to subscribers in Japan.

About Google Inc.

Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit http://www.google.com.

Google and the Google logo are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associate.

i-mode Technology

i-mode is built on a firm foundation of advanced technology. The use of packet transmissions offers continuous access, while the use of a subset of HTML makes content creation easy and provides simple conversion of existing websites.

Compatibility

i-mode websites are created with iHTML, a subset of standard HTML. Since converting existing HTML websites to i-mode format requires only minor changes to the HTML, conversion is fast and easy, and the number of i-mode sites is high and increasing rapidly.

Efficiency

NTT DoCoMo's packet-switched technology was specifically designed to provide users with "always-on" network access, eliminating the need to log on or off. In turn, i-mode − the service developed for this packet-switched technology − provides the most efficient wireless access possible as no dedicated radio channel is required. The result is lower costs for customers as they are billed according to volume of data sent and received, rather than by time spent connected.

Versatility

i-mode offers one more significant benefit: mobile voice and data service in a single convenient package. This voice/data flexibility is unprecedented: people can download information about events, restaurants, etc., and then make reservations, or place calls to numbers searched in the i-mode directory.

Open Standards

At all phases of the development of i-mode, NTT DoCoMo pursued a policy of open technology exchange and joint large system tests at our R&D center with the world's leading research organizations, mobile communications operators and equipment manufacturers. In addition, i-mode supports Java-based applications whose importance continues to increase as the move to wireless devices accelerates globally.

Overseas Specific Information

The latest information and resources for creating i-mode Java applications
DoJa Developer Network

Comcast offering TiVo recorder in Boston

Comcast began offering a digital video recorder with TiVo's programming services in the Boston area. The partnership reflects a new strategy for TiVo, which is facing competition from satellite and cable-TV providers in the digital video recorder, or DVR, market. San Jose-based TiVo is trying to "divorce" itself from hardware by developing software for other set-top boxes, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Rogers said earlier this month at a Citigroup investor conference in Phoenix. The software for Comcast includes a new function to search cable-TV and On Demand listings, said Jeff Klugman, head of TiVo's service provider division. The new software won't have broadband features that exist in TiVo's retail products, Klugman said. Those features allow users to stream Rhapsody music and download movies directly from Amazon.com.

Bloomberg News

BurstMedia:Current Research You Can Use Consumers Shout “I Want My Online Video”

Consumers Shout “I Want My Online Video”

Video content -- once reserved to restricted distribution and corporate scheduling -- is now readily available on demand at your favorite Internet web site. The torrent of available video content online has been met with near insatiable consumer demand and intense advertiser interest. Burst recently surveyed more than 2,600 online respondents to get a better idea of how they consume online video, and their perception of advertising placements within it.

Our conclusion: Online video content is in high demand – particularly for staying informed and being entertained. Men 18-34 years are the heaviest viewers of online video content. Caution to advertisers: Consumers are leery of in-stream advertising in video content –many abandon ad-fronted videos altogether

Online Video Content is Sought Out Widely and Frequently

From College Students To Senior Surfers, Online Video Content Is In Demand
Overall, seven out of ten (72.1%) respondents view online video content. Men are more likely than women to view online video, 76.6% versus 67.7% respectively. Viewing online video is not just the domain of the young. A majority of all age segments watch online videos – including over half (58.6%) of respondents 65 years and older.

Young, Adult And Male? You Are The Primary Video AudienceNearly three out of five (58.8%) respondents view online video content at least once a week. Men are significantly more likely than women to view online video content at least once a week– 67.6% versus 49.4%, respectively.

Males 18-34 years are the most frequent consumer of online video content - with nearly three-quarters (74.0%) viewing online video content at least once a week. The true champions of online video viewership are men 18-24 years old. One-third (33.7%) of this segment watches some type of online video content daily. (Chart 1)

Online Video is a New Medium of its Own

News Clips Rank Highest In Overall Interest. But For The Young Crowd - Entertainment Rules
Overall, respondents cite news clips (44.4%) as the most popular online video content to view. This is followed by music (37.5%), comedy (35.5%), movie trailers/advertising (33.7%), TV shows/clips (33.1%), entertainment news/reviews (29.9 %), sports/sports news (21.8%), instructional/how-to videos (19.2%), home/user generated video (15.4%), political videos (15.3%), and cooking video (9.0%).

Significant differences exist between age segments and the types of online video content consumed. Music videos literally rock with respondents 18-24 years, as over half (53.1%) say they seek it out online. Music is followed closely comedy video (46.9%), TV show video/clips (44.4%), and movie trailers/advertising (43.0%). Entertainment is also the most popular video content viewed by respondents 25-34 years. Beyond the age of 35 years, respondents clearly make news their leading choice of video content.

Consumers Are Turned Off by In-Stream Ads Like Pre-Roll

Good News: Consumers Remember Seeing In-Stream Ads In Online Video

More than half (53.6%) of online video viewers recall seeing in-stream (pre, mid, post-roll) advertisements in content they’ve watched. Interestingly, the segments with the lowest level of recall are the youngest (18-24 years) and the oldest (65 years and older) respondents.
Advertising placement in online video is not met with overwhelming consumer approval. In fact, three quarters (78.4%) of respondents say in-stream advertisements in online video are intrusive – and one-half (50.4%) say advertisements in video content disrupts their web surfing experience. Women are more likely than men to say advertisements in video content disrupt their web surfing experience, 53.1% versus 48.1%.

Bad News: Most Stop Watching Video Content If An Ad Shows, Or Worse
Among respondents, one-half (50.7%) stop watching an online video once they encounter an in-stream advertisement. Two out of five (43.2%) respondents stay to watch the ad and remaining video content. Respondents 18-24 years are the most tolerant of advertisements included in online video. Among this segment over one-half (57.6%) will watch an advertisement in an online video and continue to watch the content. (Chart 2)

Ominously, 15.3% of respondents immediately leave the website once they encounter an in-stream advertisement. Additionally, half (49.7%) of respondents say the presence of in-stream advertising in online video content makes them less likely to view other video content they may encounter online.

Mixed News: Disruptive Video Ads Don’t Always Make A Lasting Impression
One-third (33.0%) of respondents say they pay less attention to in-stream video advertisements than they do to standard creative units on the same page; and a third (36.1%) say they pay neither more nor less attention. Only one-in-five (21.4%) of respondents who recall advertisements in online video content say they pay more attention to the in-steam advertisement than they do to standard creative units on the same web page. (Chart 3)

Not surprisingly, the 18-24 years segment is more receptive to in-stream video advertisements than all other age segments – with 38.5% saying they pay more attention to in-stream video advertisements than they do to standard creative units.

How You Can Use This Information

Understand The Mindset Of Video Consumers: Video content is a vast treasure-trove of information and entertainment for web surfers. It is also a potential advertising treasure trove for marketers. However, marketers must tread carefully as they weed their way through the video content advertising forest. Online video consumers are not yet willing to exchange their uninterrupted viewing experience for advertising messages. For online video advertising to be truly effective, advertisers need to use approaches that fit this consumer mindset. Using shorter spots distinct from offline creative is one way of capturing consumers’ attention; and garnering greater consumer acceptance of advertising placements within online video content.

Burst Sites for the Entertainment Fan

Burst is always adding quality, content-rich sites to its networks. All sites are subject to a rigorous screening process before being accepted into our networks. Burst also periodically reviews sites to ensure they continue to meet our standards. Our continuous auditing process guarantees your advertising message is placed in a high quality content environment, and receives the maximum exposure it deserves. Below are some of the many interesting Burst sites that reach entertainment fans.

Finetune is a new kind of online music service with a unique combination of features: enter an artist name and listen to a playlist of related artists personalized for you. Finetune is led by music fans, who developed Finetune because they wanted a music service that combines the features music lovers would want and is easy-to-use. Finetune boasts a comprehensive music library of almost 2 million tracks and growing. The best thing about Finetune is that you can create your own playlist from their vast music library, listen, and share with others! Explore the Finetune community -- browse, listen, create a profile, tag, connect with other users and more.

VideoJug hosts one of the world's largest, most all-encompassing libraries of factual video content online. VideoJug’s professionally-produced, high definition video content covers every conceivable topic and delivers the definitive online "encyclopedia of life". The content is divided into a variety of formats that include informative "How To" and "Ask The Expert" films that take users, step-by-step through everything from the lighter, more welcome aspects of life (leisure, hobbies, beauty and style) to the more serious tribulations we all face in day-to-day life (health, legal, money, parenting). No matter who you are, no matter what your problem may be, VideoJug is here to help, inform and inspire.

Reality TV World is the Internet's leading resource for reality television news and information. Providing coverage of nearly 300 reality television programs, Reality TV World has been featured and cited by countless print, electronic, and online media. Realty TV World provides all the information a reality TV fan needs to be well informed, including; episode summaries, people news, ratings and scheduling news, show updates and spoiler news. Much like unscripted programming itself, Reality TV World visitors are typically from highly desirable advertising demographics.

Burst Content Channels Get To Men Who View Online Video

Reaching the high income household is the objective of many advertisers’ media plans. The challenge for advertisers is reaching this attractive segment broadly and within quality content. To help marketers reach high income households, Burst offers a number of engaging content channels that draw an audience saturated with this important and attractive target. (Chart 4)

Burst’s College and Young Adult Channel is a collection of web sites with content focused on topics college students and young adults enjoy and seek out. Topics covered in the channel range from entertainment news and games, to academic and career information. Channel visitors purchase products online – with three-out-of-five (60.5%) saying they do so. Also, over one-half (53.6%) say the Internet is their primary source for information on products and services they plan on purchasing.

Burst’s Science Channel provides information on a variety of different technical disciplines including agriculture, biology, and engineering. During the past month, half (50.8%) of channel visitors went to the movies, and 41.9% purchased a music CD. Over half (55.2%) of channel visitors say they shop online.

Burst’s News & Information Channel provides local and international reporting as well as other forms of opinion and editorial features. Half (53.6%) of channel visitors either research or manage their investments/personal finances online. Three out of five (59.3%) channel visitors say the Internet is their primary source of information for products they are considering to purchase.

Burst’s Music Channel provides information, not only on bands, artists and concerts, but also on instruments and sheet music. More than half (54.9%) of channel visitors shop online. During the past month, half (53.9%) of channel visitors say they purchased a music CD, and 56.4% went to the movies.

Burst’s Men's Channel is a collection of web sites with content focused on topics men enjoy and seek out. Topics covered in the channel range from money and careers to health and sports. More than two-thirds (70.4%) of visitors to the Burst Men's Channel shopped online in the past six months. Also, three out of five (59.5%) channel visitors say the Internet is their primary source of information on products they are considering to purchase.

About Burst Media

An online media and technology company founded in 1995, Burst Media (www.burstmedia.com) is a leading provider of advertising representation, services and technology to independent Web Publishers. Burst Media levels the playing field for independent web publishers and allows advertisers to reach finely segmented, engaged consumers — in a clutter-free environment — through an extensive number of interest-based sub-channels. The company represents the broadest and deepest number of interest-based Web sites online through its two premier Ad Networks.

	Delivers customized advertising solutions to brand advertiser looking to reach targeted audiences in a quality and engaging environment.
	Simplifies placing direct response campaigns in front of the most appropriate targets to trigger consumer action and achieve campaign performance objective.

Burst also markets its ad management platform, AdConductor ™, which empowers content web sites, online ad networks, and web portals to manage the complete process of ad sales and service. Burst Media is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, with offices throughout the United States and in London, UK. For more information, visit www.burstmedia.com or call 781.272.5544.

Online Insights is a monthly publication that highlights emerging trends in online usage and purchasing patterns. Learn about the latest online usage trends and purchase patterns with your free subscription to Online Insights.

GPS Devices, Systems To Top 900 Million Units by 2013

While in-car navigation will remain the most important application of GPS technology, the use of GPS in many other consumer, business and industrial environments such as telematics and asset tracking will continue to grow. The GPS modernization project and the arrival of additional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou/Compass will increase the availability, reliability and precision of satellite positioning and stimulate the location ecosystem, expanding the market to more than 900 million units by 2013.

"Personal Navigation Devices for in-car use will be increasingly complemented by converged solutions based on GPS-enabled handsets for pedestrian navigation and Location Based Services," says ABI Research Principal Analyst Dominique Bonte. "However, GNSS technologies will have to be combined with other positioning solutions such as A-GPS, Wi-Fi and dead reckoning to address the indoor coverage issue. Dedicated GPS devices will remain the preferred option for specific applications and environments such as outdoors, marine, recreational aviation and tracking of people and animals."

According to ABI, advances in GPS chipset development will enable the integration of GPS technology in all mobile devices at low cost by 2013. This will drive new applications such as the automatic geo-tagging of pictures taken with digital cameras. Other innovative applications include road toll systems and tourism. Mobile location-based social networking features will be an important driver for the uptake of GPS devices and applications in the consumer market.

For more information from ABI's Global Navigation Satellite Positioning Solutions report, visit www.abiresearch.com.

Still looking for the perfect HDTV?

Whether you're looking for the perfect HDTV, learning about HD, or interested in outstanding HD service – HD Clear & Simple has you covered. Simply click on the “TV” that suits your needs.

Here's what you need to consider:

How far away will you be sitting from the television? Even though HD delivers a crisp, vivid image quality, it's still not perfect. A television that is too large amplifies every imperfection. While a television that's too small loses the whole "theater experience."

What will you be using your HDTV for? Some technologies deliver truly pure colors while others lose image quality over time. So if you're a movie buff, you'll want a TV that delivers rich colors. If you're a gamer, you'll want a screen you can stare at for long periods of time. And so forth.

Where do you plan on putting your HDTV? If you're looking to mount your HDTV to the wall, you'll want a smaller, thinner HDTV. If you intend on placing it either in an entertainment center or on the floor, it's worth considering a slightly "fuller" model.

Let's talk service. If you want to watch quality HD programming on your HDTV, you'll need an HD service provider. And unlike other service providers, Time Warner Cable gives their digital cable customers basic HD programming FREE. All you need is an HD set-top box and voila!

Looking to become well versed in HD terms, check out our HD Clear & Simple Glossary.

Bring your HDTV to life with Digital Cable and High Definition service from Time Warner Cable.

Enjoy programming like ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, TNT HD, Discovery HD Theater and more. Plus, your local broadcast networks in HD – at no extra cost. You can also upgrade to our HD Premium Tier for even more sports, movies and music – all in HD of course.

You'll also have instant access to HD Movies On Demand, as well as IMAX films, blockbuster movies and classics - all in HD. Not to mention our HD Digital Video Recorder (HD DVR), which allows you to record and play back live TV, plus your favorite HD shows whenever you want.

Who is Cisco?

You may not know it, but Cisco, one of the world’s leading technology companies, is behind most of Time Warner Cable’s products, from our HD set-top boxes to our networking equipment. The result is an HD experience that’s sharper, richer and so lifelike, you’ll swear you’re part of the action.

The Time Warner Cable and Cisco "HD Clear & Simple" Web site.

Consumers can tune in online to discover the latest in HDTV entertainment and information.

Web site (www.twcinhd.com), the two companies are arming audiences with the information they need to help get the complete HDTV experience. The new HDTV Web site is designed to help consumers by clearing up common misconceptions about HDTV and the equipment and services necessary to receive HD programming.

"While many consumers are interested in HDTV, research shows many still don't understand that to receive true HD programming, there are actually three steps: Get the HD television; sign up for the HD service, which they can get with an HD digital cable box; and then tune in to the HD channel tier," said Sam Howe, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Time Warner Cable. "Through this consumer education site, we hope to make understanding the HDTV process easier for consumers while encouraging growth in HD and the advanced digital services being propelled by Cisco's innovative technology."

About Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable owns and manages cable systems passing approximately 26 million homes in 33 states. Headquartered in New York City, Time Warner Cable has 14.7 million customers for its various products, including video, high-speed data and residential telephone. This includes approximately 13.4 million basic video subscribers and more than 6.7 million customers who purchase more than one product. Time Warner Cable includes some of the most technologically advanced and best-clustered cable systems in the country, with nearly 85 percent of the Company's customers located in five geographic regions: New York, Texas, Ohio, the Carolinas and southern California. It is the largest cable provider in the nation's two largest cities, Los Angeles and New York. Leveraging its leadership in innovation and quality customer care, Time Warner Cable delivers advanced products and services such as video-on-demand, high-definition television, digital video recorders, high-speed data and Digital Phone.

About Cisco

Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

http://www.hdclearandsimple.com/index.html

High Definition Video Communications Products

High Definition Video Conferencing:
The Big Picture

Introduction:

Recently, high definition video conferencing equipment has been manufactured, demonstrated, and marketed by a growing group of vendors and is widely purported to be the next big step in the evolution of video conferencing technology.

Since the first LifeSize high definition systems shipped in December of 2005, industry has begun to adopt the technology and a great deal of interest has developed in the video conferencing community regarding the new high definition products from a range of vendors. In the midst of all of this activity, the video conferencing end user – particularly in the educational environment – is often left asking a lot of questions. What exactly is high definition video conferencing?

How does it compare with the video quality of other systems currently being used? What resources are required to support high definition video conferencing? What direction is the industry headed in, and what further developments can we expect in the future? The purpose of this document is to answer these questions and educate users, support teams, and decision-makers about the end-to-end requirements and possible applications of high definition video conferencing technology.

Additionally, many people will probably read this information and realize that high definition video conferencing is not something they need for the foreseeable future, but will have an interest in learning more about video standards and the different kinds of video conferencing formats that are available.

Background:

Over time, you may have read about various video formats, observed the statistics of video endpoints during calls, and seen terms such as CIF, SIF, QCIF, QSIF, 4CIF, and 4SIF. You may have also wondered why there are so many possible formats. The Common Intermediate Format (CIF) standard provides 352x288 pixels, or picture elements, of video resolution.

You may have also seen a standard called Source Interchange Format (SIF), and this method of displaying video provides 352x240 pixels of video resolution. CIF and SIF are the most commonly used video formats in K-20 video conferences today. For those who are interested, the CIF video format is actually specified in the H.261 and H.263 video protocols, and began as an attempt to come up with a compromise between the NTSC (US) and PAL (European) video formats. SIF, on the other hand, is mentioned in Annex D of the MPEG-1 video standard, and more closely matches the image format (aspect ratio) of the NTSC video standard commonly used in a number of countries, including the United States.

On some legacy systems, or while participating in MCU calls including endpoints that are legacy systems, you may notice the QCIF or QSIF format in use. QCIF, or Quarter CIF has a resolution of 176x144 pixels and QSIF has a resolution of 176x120 pixels, resulting in ¼ of the image resolution of CIF and SIF. These formats are generally used by video conferencing systems with very limited processing capability and/or over very low-bandwidth connections. Going the other direction on the scale, 4CIF has a resolution of 704x576 pixels and 4SIF has a resolution of 704x480 pixels, providing much better picture quality than CIF and SIF on equipment that supports these higher-quality formats. 4CIF and 4SIF can be thought of as improved definition video conferencing, but not yet high definition. These improved definition formats require call data rates between 256 Kbps and 1 Megabit per second (Mbps).

Also, even many modern video conferencing systems have very limited support for 4CIF/4SIF. For example, the Polycom VSX product line only supports 4CIF at a maximum of 7.5 frames per second (fps) when the codec is set to sharpness mode for a specific camera, so this feature would probably only be used for a device such as a document camera that supports 4CIF and doesn’t require the higher frame rates that make live video look more natural and lifelike. The VSX doesn’t have the digital signal processing resources to run 4CIF at the standard 30fps used for live video.

High Definition Defined:

True High Definition video conferencing consists of a video resolution of at least 1280x720 pixels at 30 fps at a call data rate of at least 1 Mbps and as high as 4 Mbps. You will generally see a ‘p’ after the 720, and that means that the horizontal lines comprising the picture frame are drawn on the screen in sequence (progressively) rather than in an interleaved fashion as with some other (particularly NTSC-based) video formats. There are a few high-end video conferencing systems now available that support the 1080p video format, but these are currently very expensive with limited application. Several vendors are working on more affordable systems that will support the 1080p high definition format and this equipment will probably appear on the market over the next few years. The image below shows a graphical comparison of five of the video conferencing formats in use today along with examples of screen resolutions for some commonly used devices:

The best way to explain this is to tell you that the pixels in different display formats are not always square and leave it at that. Generally, you will not have to worry about this detail in the video conferencing or computer realms, but it is good to be aware that some in some formats the pixels are square, while in others they are rectangular.

Resources Needed to Support High Definition:

One challenge of high definition (HD) video conferencing is the need to provide an end-to-end solution in order to effectively support and use the technology. There are a number of components that you will need to have in place and correctly configured in order to support HD video conferencing as follows:

• HD-capable camera
• HD-capable video device (codec)
• Plenty of high-quality bandwidth
• Interfaces and cables that support HD
• Monitors and/or projectors that support HD (resolution, aspect ratio, size)
• Components that support all of the above at the remote site(s)
• In a multi-point call, all of the above plus an MCU that supports HD and is configured/enabled as required

Additionally, there are a few other considerations as follows:

• The codec will need to be backward compatible so that it works with all the legacy video equipment out there!

• Once users become accustomed to HD, better audio components and stereo capability may be needed to bring the audio up to the same standards as the video.

• Although not true HD, improved definition technologies such as 4CIF and 4SIF may require upgraded equipment in order for you to take full advantage of their capabilities.

• Even non-HD video formats often looks better on a modern, high resolution monitor, because the anti-aliasing/up-sampling process used in newer monitors increases the perceived image quality

As with other types of video conferencing equipment, users are encouraged to evaluate high definition video conferencing systems before they buy to ensure that the equipment will work properly with their peripheral equipment, network infrastructure, and other video conferencing systems. This is particularly true with HD equipment, because it is so new to the market and the hardware and software are not as thoroughly tested in live environments as systems that have been on the market for a longer period of time.

The Future:

As mentioned earlier, various vendors can be expected to introduce a variety of HD endpoint equipment with higher resolutions and other features at lower cost in the future. Also, products will support more advanced features such as mixed HD and non-HD endpoints in calls, Continuous Presence support in HD mode, and probably additional features as well.

Additionally, some developers are already experimenting with far higher resolution video formats as well as optical media capable of Terabyte storage densities and displays that create 3D effects in an attempt to introduce a greater sense of realism into the HD experience. There are several items to remain mindful of related to these developments:

Even with today’s advanced algorithms and encoding/decoding techniques, increases in definition require considerably more bandwidth to support high-quality calls.
Higher resolutions and greater realism are expensive features that may or may not be worth the cost in a specific video conferencing environment.

With the monitor sizes utilized by PC users and smaller video conferencing room installations, the perceived quality improvement of HD video isn’t as noticeable as it is on a larger (greater than or equal to 32”) monitor with a wide, 16:9 aspect ratio.

Supplemental Links:

tandberg.com
This document contains some interesting information about video formats as well as a description of Tandberg’s Native Resolution feature.

collaborationloop.com
This article addresses the topic of optimal viewing distance for different screen sizes and resolutions, along with other details.

polycomnz.co.nz
This document provides some information about Polycom’s HD offering.

Tour TANDBERG's visually-enabled office Videoconferencing Total Solution

Click to “walk around” TANDBERG’s virtual office. You can peek inside conference rooms, executive offices, and cubicles to see how everyone is connected through the TANDBERG Video conferencing Total Solution.

Regardless of distance, teams collaborate with staff at the airport, on the manufacturing floor and at home. Enter each office to see product detail on videoconferencing endpoints and reach onto the shelves of the IT room to understand the infrastructure that brings the Total Solution together.

Whether you are starting out with a simple configuration of two video endpoints or implementing visual communication across the entire organization, TANDBERG has scalable products that grow with your business demands.

Polycom Video Communications Products

Distance Learning

Companies worldwide are looking for innovative training vehicles that allow information dissemination to large and disperse audiences. Employees, channel partners, franchises and suppliers can all benefit from a quality learning environment without geographical boundaries.

» read more

Customer Service/Support

The level of customer service and customer support provided by a company can result in a customer satisfaction, retention and referral. Using Polycom collaboration tools provides a personal, yet time-sensitive, element to support or service calls.

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Interview & Recruitment

Hiring the right candidate for the job is key in any organization. But geographical boundaries, time-constraints and travel-cost limitations impact the ability to find the most qualified candidates. According to a recent poll, the hiring process takes on average three months. Hire better candidates, faster with Polycom collaboration solutions.

» read more

Project Management/Event Planning and Implementation

Any event or project – training classes, marketing launches, product rollouts or sales seminars – often require steps that are time-consuming, resource-intensive and expensive. From material preparation to schedule coordination to event implementation, Polycom collaboration solutions provide a more streamlined process for project management.

» read more

Vendor Supplier Management

The most successful companies are those that develop and maintain strong relationships with employees, customers, partners and suppliers. Polycom collaboration solutions play a major role in managing relationships by eliminating the distance barrier.

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Training

Organizing training classes often requires complex planning. From material preparation to schedule coordination to class implementation, Polycom collaboration solutions provide a more successful process for developing and implementing the most effective training classes possible.

» read more

HDX 7000

HDX 7000
HDX 7000 Features and Benefits
HDX Series Administrators Guide
Ultimate HD

Key Features:

• Flexible, cost-effective, high quality communications
  
  
• Delivers UltimateHD: HD voice, HD video and HD content for extreme performance

• Perfect solution for a small to medium sized environment
  

• Internal MCU supports up to 4 participants in a single conference

• Advanced HD video technology, offers smooth, natural motion and sharp clear images for outstanding video
  
  

True high definition quality in a professional design. The Polycom HDX offers 1280 x 720 (720p) resolution with over nine times the video quality of CIF video.

HD video capture is attained with the optional Polycom Eagle-Eye High Definition Camera which provides high definition 720p video captured at 60fps.

Hear every participant clearly with 22 kHz audio. Amazing audio and rich sounds with a true-to-life audio experience comes from Polycom’s StereoSurround. Users can be heard naturally from the far end when the participants are separated on the left and right channels.

Share content with remote sites in unique ways, including sharing PC data and information from other video sources

LifeSize® provides a complete range of high definition video communications solutions that use advanced technology to deliver a true telepresence experience. Across our product portfolio, the one feature that doesn’t change is the quality of the experience.

• Video
  Choose your video system based on the features you want without jeopardizing the HD quality experience. LifeSize offers a complete range of high definition video communications solutions with telepresence quality.
• Audio
  An authentic telepresence experience requires high definition audio. LifeSize® Phone™ is the high definition audio conference phone that delivers revolutionary audio conferencing sound quality and room coverage.
• Infrastructure
  LifeSize offers a variety of hardware insfrastructure solutions for high definition video and audio deployments. Products include secure firewall/NAT traversal, ISDN to IP Gateway, and 12 and 24-port high definition Multipoint Control Units.
• Management
  LifeSize systems are designed to be IT friendly with plug-and-play installation and simple, intuitive operation. Our products offer intelligent management solutions for your video communication systems.
• Accessories
  LifeSize systems are designed for maximum flexibility and ease of use. LifeSize offers accessories to enhance your system and increase your deployment options.

lifesize.com

High definition: An immersive, authentic experience
Telepresence quality high definition video and audio provides authentic user experiences. LifeSize Conference delivers stunning high definition video -- 30 frames per second and 1280x720 screen resolution. Get the rich interaction of face-to-face interaction and leave the confusion and ambiguity of email and phone calls behind. Share presentations, documents and multimedia with everyone at the same time, allowing dispersed colleagues to collaborate more effectively.

• LifeSize Conference

January 10, 2008
LifeSize Chosen as “Videoconferencing Company of the Year” by Videoconferencing Insight

January 10, 2008
LifeSize Receives INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine’s 10th Annual Product of the Year Award

media_kit/high quality pics


HD video conferencing — almost like the real thing

Video conferencing may soon seem almost as real as meeting in person, thanks to technology being developed by researchers at Simon Fraser University and partners at other Canadian universities.

The high-definition video streaming technology was tested last week in an experimental installation involving SFU, Concordia University in Montreal and the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto.

For 72 hours, live video was streamed between the three institutions in crystal-clear high-definition format over CAnet 4, Canada’s research and education network.

According to B. Ben Youssef, a researcher with the School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) at SFU’s Surrey campus, the quality of the image is vastly greater than that available with typical video streaming technology.

“The high-definition image allows the screen to disappear and brings the viewer into much closer personal contact with colleagues at a distance,” he says.

“High-definition video conferencing will enhance the virtual experience, overcoming the limitations of traditional group video conferencing with an increased sense of human presence.”

He hopes the project will trigger collaboration in art, design and technology with other Canadian institutions and build a network of researchers to explore the impact of advanced technology such as HD TV and HD video on time and space.

sfu.ca

Run HD-DVD, Run! or Blu-ray wins the battle, might lose the war

Toshiba affirms future of HD-DVD after Warner setback

A HD DVD booth is on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. Intel CEO Paul Otellini gave a keynote speech at CES. describing how the internet will continue transforming the consumer electronics and entertainment industries.

Hamburg - Japanese-based consumer-electronics group Toshiba affirmed Thursday its commitment to HD-DVD, its high definition optical disc system, which suffered a bad hit earlier this month with the Hollywood studio Warner abandoning it.

At a briefing in Hamburg on the upcoming CeBIT computing show in March, Sascha Lange, marketing chief of Toshiba Germany, announced price cuts for HD-DVD players in Europe, matching cuts the previous day in the United States.

He said the German price of Toshiba's base model in Europe, the HD-EP30 player, would be reduced to just below 200 euros (292 dollars) including 19-per-cent German sales tax. The same model would be offered in the United States at 199 dollars plus tax.

He said the company had needed a couple of weeks to analyse its position after the Warner defection to the rival technology, Blu-ray, at the start of the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

'We are still convinced this is best product at the most reasonable price for the end user,' Lange said. He said 200,000 of the players had been sold so far in Europe.

Toshiba would in future stress a feature of HD-DVD which was not available on Blu-ray players, an internet connection. 'It creates huge opportunities,' he said. 'We can use it to run a video stream from an internet provider.'

He demonstrated how this could be used for broadcasting over the internet, and added that the feature was already being used by owners.

Lange quoted a survey by the remaining pro-HD-DVD studios, Universal, Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks Animations, suggesting 30 per cent of users had tried this.

A majority of Hollywood studios are backing Blu-ray. Both technologies pack more data on optical discs, but Blu-ray packs the most. HD-DVD is promoted as cheaper, because it uses much of the same technology as existing DVD optical discs.

tech.monstersandcritics.com



Blu-ray wins the battle, might lose the war

The battle between the next generation DVD formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray, rages on.
For the moment, the odds seem to be in favour of Blu-ray, with Warner Bros stealing the limelight with its pre-CES announcement that from May onwards, the studio will only issue discs in the Blu-ray format alongside regular DVDs.

Last year, Paramount decided to go HD-DVD only, but that decision seems not to have had a reverse impact on Blu-ray sales. Still, the real question that needs to be answered is not which format will win the battle of the standards, but rather if consumers really need a follow-up standard for DVDs. Our take on this is that, although HD Ready and Full HD screens are now abundant in homes across the Western world, there seems to be little appetite for these HD discs.

The studios are concerned that DVD sales will dwindle in the next few years and consumers will want a new physical medium to keep their movies and TV series. A problem for the studios might not be a problem for viewers, who during the next few years will get used to downloading movies and TV programmes from the web rather than buy them in a store. For the time being, DVDs will suffice for most consumers. With current price differences between DVD players and the next generation disks players, only early adapters will switch formats. However,prices will now start to fall, with Philips being the first to offer a Blu-ray player for $350, “less than a PS3”. A battle between standards does not help either, especially since most people seem to be content with the current media.

Of course DVD sales will go down, but so have sales of CDs – and in that case listeners also stayed away from super audio discs, but preferred downloads instead. This seems also to be the likely scenario for video. But again, also on this turf there are still problems getting standards sorted out. With music, Apple won the race with its iTunes software and store, setting the de facto standard, at least for the time being.

With video, there will be an even greater need for a simple user interface and a single standard. Apple has not yet achieved this with their Apple TV and neither has Microsoft with their Windows Media Center. Online video also suffers from a number of standards (Windows Media Player, real Player), proprietary solutions (Joost, Babelgum, others) and even dedicated hard ware solutions with set-top boxes or other devices such as Take TV from SanDisk, For the moment, cable operators and IPTV companies will try and introduce on-demand services on their set tops. Their advantage is that they already connect to the TV set and people are used to getting their video content from them.

By Robert Briel broadbandtvnews.com


HD DVD fires back, slashes hardware & software prices

HD DVD's response to being unceremoniously jilted by Warner going into CES was ... nothing. A canceled press conference, downtrodden Toshiba press conference and rumors of further losses left great doubt that red had anything left in 2008, but now HD DVD is firing back. Leveraging its "approximately 50% market share in 2007" -- we're not sure where that number comes from either, we've contacted Toshiba for clarification -- indisputable lead in the notebook market and 100% compatibility with internet-enabled HDi features, Toshiba has announced it is not laying down yet. Effective yesterday, the HD-A3 MSRP has dropped to $149.99, the 1080p-capable HD-A30 to $199.99, and the top of the line HD-A35 to $299.99. Combined with an extended "perfect offer" of 5 free HD DVDs with every purchase, Toshiba's HD DVD Concierge service, and a sudden 50% off sale on Amazon, it seems this format will not go quietly into the dark. Fire sale to clear suddenly obsolete inventory or real chance to hang onto its remaining supporters? This could be the best -- or worst -- time to pick a side in the HD war.

Update: Amazon is also having a 50% off Blu-ray sale, so whatever your format of choice, pick up some discs and let the movie studios know who you rep.

Read - 50% off sale on Amazon (Thanks Jeremy)
Read - Toshiba press release

Permalink
engadget.com

Amazon: $129 Toshiba HD-A3 with 7 HD DVDs and free shipping

Guess what? It's yet another rock bottom sale day for Toshiba's HD-A3 HD DVD player. This time it's Amazon serving up the HD-A3 with 7 HD DVD titles and free shipping for just $129. The deal combines the extended 5 HD DVD "perfect offer" with Warner Bros' 300 and Universal's The Bourne Identity HD DVD titles thrown in for kicks. That's two extra discs and $21 less than the official $150 dealio. Crazy, we know.

Permalink engadget.com

The Top IPTV Developments of 2007 and IPTV headend solution from Cisco

The Top IPTV Developments of 2007

The year started with a prediction from Bill Gates and ended with major milestones. A look back at the year in IPTV.

At the January 2007 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bill Gates made a stunning prediction: In five years, people will laugh at the TV they've had up until now. While the statement was met with obvious skepticism, it hinted at things to come. Since digital-video pioneer TiVo brought interactive features to the living room on a mass scale for the first time, consumers have taken control of their viewing experience, and TV will never be the same again. The long-held promise of interactive TV is finally becoming a reality in the U.S., except now it’s the telcos that are in charge rather than the cable companies. Major telcos have been busy rolling out new fiber-optic lines for high-speed, two-way data transmission, taking aim at cable and satellite companies’ entrenched services. Aside from faster speeds and better picture quality, interactive features promise new innovations in advertising and viewing habits.

Take, for example, one of the top stories of 2007 that emerged from January’s Consumer Electronics Show: an IPTV-capable Xbox 360 gaming console, combining interactive DVR (digital-video recorder) and chat functions with Microsoft’s game platform. While the device has yet to emerge, it hints at what’s possible in a future where convergence awaits. The Internet has added a new dimension in which consumers can get their IPTV content, often for free, but it too has struggled. Services such as Joost and Apple TV have been plagued with problems, and the outcome remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the Internet will no doubt play an important role in the years to come.

As noted in Daily IPTV's article on the state of the IPTV market, adoption has taken longer than expected. However, the global market could reach more than 50 million subscribers by 2010, and worldwide IPTV revenues from subscriptions and VOD (video on demand) could reach $12.2 billion by 2011. U.S. market leader Verizon had signed up 500,000 customers for its FiOS IPTV service as of October 2007, with laggard AT&T having signed up 126,000 customers for its U-verse service. These numbers are expected to reach 855,000 and 200,000 by end of Q4 2007, respectively. There has been some struggle over how to name or classify these services, particularly with FiOS’s similarity to cable (although it is an FTTH, or fiber-to-the-home, offering), but their IPTV status is unlikely to change.

What Drives Success

Richard Broughton, an analyst at Screen Digest, explained at length what drives IPTV success around the world. “It really differs from market to market,” he said. “The French services [Freebox, Orange TV and Neuf Box] are primarily free-TV offers. The lack of a high price point is one contributing factor to their success. This, coupled with the marketing from France's extremely competitive and aggressive broadband players, means that services have received maximum exposure to the public. Content is actually fairly evenly distributed across the services here — premium TV is really restricted to the Canal Plus and CanalSat programming packages, which are available on all of the top IPTV operations."

Broughton continued, “Free Telecom [the world’s largest IPTV provider] has managed to muscle its way to the top just through sheer brute investment. The company has taken the unprecedented step of supplying every broadband customer with a TV set-top box [with the latest generation models as HD PVRs (high-definition portable video recorders)] — a massive cost for any company. For Free, this is especially problematic, as customers may not take any further TV packages, making the whole operation work at incredibly low margins. For the time being though, the company is content to continue with this level of investment and as a result will stay on top of the pack for the foreseeable future."

Broughton went on, saying, “For other countries, different strategies have been adopted — Verizon is aimed more at the premium end of the market. Although its TV packages are slightly inferior in [the] number of channels to those of the big cable companies, its VOD library is enormous, and its pricing is aimed slightly lower — partly a consequence of the reduced channel range, but also as a result of the bundling reductions from customers taking fiber-optic, high-speed broadband. Thus far, of course, FiOS TV has been extremely successful, and there is no doubt that its offer will continue to expand. Few days go by when I don't get an email regarding Verizon adding more HD or local channels to its offer."

“South Korean service HanaTV has taken a different approach again," said Broughton. "Regulations in South Korea prohibit it from offering broadcast content over its broadband/telephone lines, so it offers a range of subscription, on-demand packages. Price is again a key factor, with the company taking in ARPUs [average revenue per user] of around 12 euros (about $17) from the product. This is on the low side for IPTV services — the offer is really a complementary one to the company's broadband segment. Rumors have been flying around recently regarding the relaxation of the laws [that] govern IPTV services in South Korea, so it is likely that in the near future, Hanaro Telecom will begin offering linear content as well as subscription, on-demand material.”

Top Market Developments

Broughton noted the following top market developments for 2007:

• Fastweb (in Europe) has begun to offer its TV package as a stand-alone product that doesn't require a broadband subscription. This is a first for a telco offering IPTV — broadband for most operators is still the core business, with IPTV a nice extra. The fact that Fastweb is now able to offer the service on its own means that the TV is profitable. This provides an indication as to where IPTV may end up in years to come. It also acts as a target for other operators — if Fastweb can make a profit out of its TV business, so can they.
• Advertising-funded VOD trials have begun in Europe. While commonplace in the U.S., ad-funded VOD is not really available in Europe. Belgacom is looking to buck this trend by offering on-demand films free, on an ad-supported basis. Other operators, including BT Vision, have expressed interest in funding content through ads, and there is no doubt that the reduction in costs would attract consumers.
• It's the best year yet for net additions for IPTV, although in Europe, it is likely that the peak has been reached and additions will decline from 2008 onward. More than 2.6 million new IPTV customers were registered in 2007 — 20 percent higher than in 2006. Additions were largely as a result of the Tier-1 operators that launched recently, which had a full year to conduct extensive marketing and benefited from a whole year of subscriber additions.
• PlayStation 3 activated for IPTV in South Korea: MegaTV, the service run by Korea Telecom, announced that Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 could be used as a set-top box for the TV service. MegaTV had 150,000 subscribers as of September, despite stiff competition from old hand HanaTV. Whether the PlayStation 3 will make much of a difference remains to be seen in South Korea's PC-dominated environment, but as the first console to be used as a true set-top box, it marks a significant point in convergence strategies in the media industry.
• Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is capable of acting as a set-top box. Considering Microsoft's hefty number of Mediaroom IPTV platform clients and its rapidly climbing installed base, this puts the Xbox 360 at a major advantage over the other consoles. However, with Microsoft yet to announce a single actual customer who is able to use the Xbox as a set-top box, this advantage has yet to be exploited.
• France's Iliad Group successfully equipped every broadband customer of Free Telecom with a Freebox IPTV set-top box, making Freebox TV the largest IPTV service in the world. Whether anyone is watching TV using the boxes is a bone of contention — indications from previous years suggested that subscriptions to further packages were as low as 10 percent — but at least as far as deployed boxes go, Freebox is streaks ahead.
• France Telecom hit 1 million customers for its IPTV services across Europe. Its French operations accounted for most of this at the end of Q3 2007, with 975,000 customers, but rapid growth in Poland in particular boosted this number to more than 1 million. Orange TV in France is now likely to claim more than 1 million customers on its own.
• IPTV reached more than 10 million subscribers globally this year. The majority are still in Europe, with perhaps 50 percent of the world's IPTV customers in France, but this is still a major checkpoint for IPTV.

More Developments

The analyst team at MRG Multimedia Research Group Inc., including Jose Alvear, Len Feldman, Steve Hawley and Gary Schultz, provided its own list of top IPTV developments of 2007 as follows:

• Free Telecom (Freebox) reached 1 million IPTV subscribers. This counts actual IPTV users, not customers who are just entitled to use IPTV but either can't, because their xDSL connection is too slow, or who choose not to.
• IPTV vendor consolidation really began in earnest:
  

• The Alcatel/Lucent merger closed this year, as did the formation of Nokia Siemens Networks.
• Motorola became No.1 player in live encoders, thanks to its acquisitions of Tut Systems Inc. and Modulus Video.
• Ericsson acquired Tandberg Television, and Cavalier Telephone and TV acquired SecureMedia Inc.
  

• Microsoft's service providers started deploying IPTV to their customers in quantity. While there are still concerns about the mass deployability of the Microsoft Mediaroom solution, it's clear that systems built on Microsoft's middleware have commercial viability.
• The first IPTV deployments (albeit small) began in India. Meanwhile, Korea’s on-demand (VOD) IPTV service is skyrocketing, partially due to Korea being the most broadband-equipped country in the world (with virtually 100 percent broadband penetration), with the majority of homes receiving speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
• For the first time, major cable operators such as Comcast are publicly expressing concern that the telcos' IPTV efforts are starting to eat away at their subscriber bases — and that is impacting shareholders.
• Providers are getting serious about advertising and content. When IPTV was an "early-adopter phenomenon," making it work was an exercise in creative engineering, and the operator's engineers were driving the train. Now, more than ever, concerns over cost containment, breakeven and profitability have engaged the business side of the house.
• IPTV turned a corner this year from an infrastructure perspective. Operators no longer question whether IPTV can be made to work as a business. Instead, the attention has moved toward refining the experience, and therefore, toward investing in testing, measurement and monitoring.
• The U.S. is being seen as finally starting to catch up with the rest of the IPTV world now that U.S. Tier-1 operators (such as Verizon and AT&T) are starting to scale. Yet, the perception of the U.S. and Canada as being "behind" has been a bit inaccurate, because smaller North American operators have been doing IPTV for as long as a decade.
• MPEG-4 AVC set-top boxes are shipping in volume, making it the first time that the true promises of MPEG-4 AVC could be realized after many years of promises. (MPEG-4 is considered the next- generation, highly efficient encoding standard.)

While much progress has been made in the IPTV market, there is plenty of room for growth and improvement. Despite the many challenges that remain, one thing is for certain: IPTV is here to stay. Today’s TV may not be gone in five years, but market dynamics are slowly changing the entertainment landscape. Those solutions that can deliver IPTV anywhere, anytime (TV, PC and mobile) are most likely to succeed in the long run. Although true convergence may not be here yet, it’s on the way, thanks in no small part to IPTV.

by David Cotriss/ dailyiptv.com

Transmission Products

Advanced IPTV Headend

If IPTV is part of your triple play plans, you know how important it is to implement a powerful, flexible, headend solution. Your solution must be able to transmit the greatest number of channels and best image quality with the best possible bandwidth efficiency. Whether your networks are xDSL, FTTx and/or HFC, Scientific Atlanta's IPTV headend solution has everything necessary to deliver:

Click on diagram for larger view

Meet your IPTV challenges:

Other Links Read more about the IPTV headend solution IPTV Set-Tops IPTV Platform SciCare Integration Services for Telecom Operator SciCare IPTV Training Services Build the right headend system for your business, whether your networks are xDSL, FTTx and/or HFC, whether you need a complete modular IPTV headend or individual open standards-based components that will integrate with third party middleware and other systems. Deliver more content and better quality images over less bandwidth with best-in-class MPEG4-10 (H.264) encoding, IntelliRate™ transrating and MPEG-2 encoding. Ensure greater flexibility and cost-effectiveness with dense signal reception and descrambling module, as well as intelligent Gigabit Ethernet IP streaming. Maintain optimized performance with the ROSA™ monitoring and management system including easy integration to third party middleware systems.

Key components in the IPTV headend solution:

D9655™ IP Streamer and Processor with IntelliRate transrating loop D9034 Encoder D9054 HDTV Encoder D9032™ MPEG-2 Encoder, upgradeable to MPEG4-10 Galaxy™ Rack System with multiple receivers and descramblers

D9034 Encoder

MPEG-4 part 10 or optionally MPEG-2 Pre-analysis with 3:2 pull-down inversion Adaptive motion compensated temporal filtering with PreSightPlus noise reduction ASI and IP streaming outputs Web-based GUI and SNMP management interface for interfacing to any Management System 1 RU, low power consumption, stackable Redundant power supply ensures uninterrupted operation if one power supply should fail Four audio channels as either embedded, analog or digital audio input Dolby®-Digital encoding, Dolby Digital pass-through or MPEG-1 Layer II audio Integrated Frame synchronizer with internal reference DVB VBI support Read more

[key components]

D9054 HDTV Encoder

Up to 20 Mbit/s MGEG-4part 10 MP@L4 vi compression rate PreSightPlus Pre-analysis Single slice JD AVC encoder Closed Captioning support via SMPTE 334M HD-SDI embedded audio support 1080i and 720p support Dual power supply Four MPEG audio channels Dolby Digital passthrough support ASI and Dual IP outputs (10/100 Base-T) Multi service streaming IP output Dedicated Ethernet 10/100 Base-T interface for management and maintenance WEB based GUI SNMP management interface for interfacing to any SNMP-based Management System including ROSA Network Management System Two rack units high, space-efficient, stackable Read more

[key components]

D9655 IP Streamer and Processor with IntelliRate transrating loop

Up to 20 ASI inputs Processing and SPTS de-multiplexing – up to 600Mbit/s IntelliRate transrating (with looped Transis RateCompressor) Transport Stream Monitoring DVB simulcrypt Scrambling Gigabit Ethernet IP output Open interfaces for easy interfacing to 3rd party systems Read more

[key components]

Digital Content Manager (DCM)

Stand-alone device, dedicated to high-performance transrating and rate limiting High processing power guarantees that every service gets attention it needs Read more

[key components]

D9032 MPEG-2 Encoder, upgradeable to MPEG4-10

Advanced MPEG-2 Encoder IP streaming and ASI output DPI (Digital Program Insertion) SDI and Composite input incl. Built-in Frame-synchronizer PreSigthPlus™ architecture with adaptive pre-.filtering and pre-Analysis (”dual-pass”) MPEG4-10 and HE-AAC through field-upgradeable HW Board Read more

[key components]

Galaxy Rack System with multiple receivers and descramblers:

Titan MKII™ Satellite Receiver (QPSK) Atlas MKII™ Terrestrial Receiver (DVB-T) Spectra™ Cable Receiver (QAM) Neon™ Network Adapter (34/45Mbit/s) Axis™ Network Adapter (STM-1/SONET, ATM, PDH) Indus MKII™ DVB Multi-channel descrambler

[key components]

scientificatlanta