Cable Technology Feature Article
November 20, 2008
Australia's Nine Networks Selects NTT's AVC Decoder/Encoder for HD Cricket Coverage
By Nathesh, TMCnet Contributor
The 2008/09 Australian summer cricket season will be broadcasted in HD by Nine Networks. The company will make use of the AVC/H.264 Encoders and Decoders from NTT Electronics. The companies say that the summer’s cricket matches will be shown in high quality with low latency.
“Nine Network's coverage of this year’s international cricket season will be produced in full resolution high definition with surround sound audio. We will be using MPEG-4 AVC High Definition 4:2:2 profile compression on the contribution circuits carrying the live feed from the venue to Nine's HD distribution and transmission system" said Charles Sevior, Nine’s Network Manager Broadcast Technology.
NTT Electronics deals in video compression technologies. Nine Networks is an Australian news, sport, entertainment and major events broadcaster. Channel Nine says that it has lead the coverage of cricket worldwide with frequent innovations and looks forward to presenting all major international games this summer in full HD 1080.
NTT Electronics says that apart from this summer they will be helping Nine Networks to cover the upcoming 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and 2012 London Olympics in high definition. They say they are happy to contribute for the HD evolution in Australia.
The HDTV/SDTV encoder/decoder supports both HD (1080i / 720p) and SD (480i / 576i) and a maximum of two audio systems, for a total of eight-channel encoding and decoding. The solution with outstanding flexibility through its support of both the MPEG-2 and AVC/H.264 video compression formats fits any situation in this period of transition between any formats.
The HV9100 series incorporates an IC developed by NTT Electronics that provides AVC H.264 compression, supports 4:2:2 chroma and features low delay time. The encoder/decoder also has easier network maintenance and offers high level of security for satellite communications.
NTT says that many broadcasting stations in North America, Europe, and Brazil area have acknowledged the HV9100’s advantages and have selected it for their HD coverage.
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Nathesh is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nathesh's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jessica Kostek
