Indian Media Company F7 Broadcast Expands DSNG Contribution Capabilities With Comprehensive Solution From Harmonic
Harmonic's Ellipse 3200 Encoders and ProView 7100 IRDs Bring New Levels of Video Quality and Bandwidth Efficiency to Broadcast Contribution Applications
SAN JOSE, Calif.(15 Jan 2015)
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure, today announced that F7 Broadcast Pvt. Ltd., a major media company in India with six channels -- five news and one entertainment -- has selected a comprehensive contribution solution from Harmonic for live events and news coverage. Utilizing Harmonic's Ellipse(R) 3200 contribution encoders and ProView(TM) 7100 integrated receiver-decoders (IRDs), F7 Broadcast has transitioned from DVB-S/MPEG-4 to DVB-S2/MPEG-4 video delivery to optimize video quality, increase bandwidth efficiency, and lower operating expenses. Harmonic's Ellipse and ProView platforms provide F7 Broadcast with a highly flexible and scalable end-to-end contribution solution for digital satellite newsgathering (DSNG), enabling the media company to cost-effectively expand from operating one regional news channel to five channels.
"Today's viewers have an insatiable appetite for live news. They want to know what's happening, while it's happening, on a variety of devices. In order to provide 24/7 news coverage, we needed a contribution solution that would guarantee superior bandwidth efficiency and video quality for multiple channels," said Naveen Goel, executive vice president, IT, Broadcast and Engineering, at F7 Broadcast Pvt. Ltd. "Only Harmonic had the perfect combination for video contribution. Their Ellipse and ProView solutions allow us to deliver seamless video coverage to viewers at the lowest possible bit rates. We are using Harmonic's solutions in all DSNG vehicles to send live feeds from regional locations back to the main headend in Noida. We are very impressed with the cost savings and video quality improvements they provide."
Harmonic's Ellipse 3200 contribution encoders provide HD MPEG-4 AVC encoding at 4:2:2 chroma subsampling and 10 bits, ensuring that F7 Broadcast can provide viewers with the highest video quality available. The Ellipse 3200 encoders include an integrated DVB-S/S2/DSNG modulator with simultaneous RF, IF, and DVB-ASI outputs to further optimize workflow efficiency and increase cost savings for F7 Broadcast's live news and events coverage. By eliminating the need to purchase costly external stand-alone devices for satellite uplink, the Ellipse 3200 encoders dramatically reduce F7 Broadcast's capital and operating expenses. The Ellipse encoders include DVB-S2 technology that improves spectral efficiency utilizing advanced coding techniques, providing F7 Broadcast with a bandwidth savings of up to 30 percent compared with DVB-S.
Featuring a compact and rugged 1-RU design, the Ellipse encoders easily fit into F7 Broadcast's DSNG vehicles. Their small system footprint and low power consumption further reduce F7 Broadcast's operating expenses. Additionally, since next-generation video codecs and formats can easily be added to the Ellipse encoders via a simple firmware upgrade, F7 Broadcast enjoys a scalable migration path and superior operational flexibility.
The Ellipse 3200 encoders are seamlessly interoperable with Harmonic's ProView 7100 IRDS. After compression of AVC HD 4:2:2 10-bit video using the Ellipse encoders, F7 Broadcast uses the ProView 7100 decoders to decompress content at the same sampling and bit rate. The end result is a contribution workflow with nearly lossless video quality.
"Harmonic's industry-leading video compression expertise combined with our global deployment experience, make us the No. 1 choice for media companies like F7 Broadcast, who are looking to improve video quality and workflow efficiency for contribution applications," said Dan Taylor, general manager, India, Harmonic. "The Ellipse 3200 and ProView 7100 solutions are the perfect complement to one another. By supporting 4:2:2 10-bit video encoding and decoding, they enable F7 Broadcast to deliver pristine video quality in a manner that is affordable and efficient."
Further information about Harmonic and the company's products is available at www.harmonicinc.com.
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About Harmonic
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) is the worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure for emerging television and video services. The company's production-ready innovation enables content and service providers to efficiently create, prepare, and deliver differentiated services for television and new media video platforms. More information is available at www.harmonicinc.com.