KTLA Puts Telairity BC8100 HD Encoder Into Service:
First MPEG-4 Encoder For News Copters
June 19, 2009
Source: Telairity
New encoder
upgrades video quality while lowering output transmission
rate from 18Mbs to 12Mbs
Telairity announced today that KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, one
of the nation's most distinguished local television news organizations,
has successfully completed switching over its helicopter news
transmissions to high definition MPEG-4 using the Telairity
BC8100 H.264/AVC HD encoder.
Mounted aboard Sky5 HD, the station's flagship news helicopter,
the BC8100 encoder helped KTLA switch its compression technology
from the older, more data intensive MPEG-2 to the more efficient
MPEG-4 format. The Telairity encoder is the world's first
MPEG-4 encoder expressly designed for aerial news vehicles,
including both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
KTLA turned to Telairity to design a new
MPEG-4 HD encoder: a natural extension of the company equipping
the station's fleet of 10 live ENG ground vehicles with Telairity's
BH8100 HD MPEG-4 encoders. KTLA broadcasts over eight hours
of live studio and field news per day, and virtually all in
HD.
The transition of Sky5 HD from MPEG-2
to MPEG-4 compression technology was triggered by the broadcast
industry's permanent switchover from analog to digital technology,
which was completed this week (6/15/09).
A side effect of this change has the squeezing of the available
bandwidth for Broadcast Auxiliary Services (BAS), used to
transmit from the field to the studio or to a remote transmission
site, from 18Mbps and higher to 12Mbps and lower. With older
MPEG-2 compression technology, acceptable HD video quality
cannot be achieved with the reduced digital bandwidth.
According to Howard Sachs, CEO of Telairity, "We made
KTLA's decision easy. First, we had already established a
reputation for exceptional value, quality, reliability, and
service with our BH8100 encoder, deployed in KTLA's fleet
of ENG trucks. Second, because we control all our own encoder
technology, from chip to sheet metal, we were the only company
able to meet KTLA's stringent form factor and other requirements
for aerial use in time to keep Sky5 HD on the air, with the
digital transition set for the start of June in the LA area."
KTLA, owned by Tribune Broadcasting and a CW affiliate, was
among the first stations to present high definition newscasts,
beginning in 2007, and the first station to deploy advanced
MPEG-4 technology for HD in its ENG vehicles.
Based on the same highly efficient, low-latency H.264/AVC
encoding technology used in its other encoders, theBC8100
encoder is designed to support robust live transmissions from
airborne news units. It virtually eliminates fade-out problems,
allowing studio decoders to lock on to its signals nearly
four times faster than other systems.
"KTLA has been with us every step of the way in the development
of this airborne encoding system," Sachs added. "We
thank the engineering staff for its support and look forward
to the station's inclusion of our encoders as part of its
everyday HD broadcast equipment package."
Submit a Company
Submit News
Submit a Job
Submit an Event
|
