Chita Medias Network Inc. Chooses NTT Electronics MPEG-2 HDTV Encoder

Conversion of Community Channels to HD Slated For November

NTT Electronics Corporation (President: Tomoyuki Toshima; HQ: Shibuya, Tokyo) has provided Chita Medias Network Inc. (HQ: Tokai City, Aichi Prefecture, hereafter "Chita Medias") with its MPEG-2 HDTV Encoder HE3100 head-end equipment for community channels ^(*1).

Since the beginning of terrestrial digital broadcasting in December of 2003, Chita Medias has been retransmitting terrestrial digital and CS digital broadcasts. Chita Medias also started terrestrial digital broadcasting of community channels in April of this year and plans to convert to full HDTV in November. They have chosen NTT Electronics' HDTV MPEG-2 Encoder for this task.

Powerful and reliable encoding solutions from NTT Electronics have helped Chita Medias produce realistic digital broadcasts in HD.

Mr. Hiroshi Suda, head of technology for Chita Medias, had this to say about choosing NTT Electronics: "The selection of NTT Electronics encoders has made it possible for Chita Medias to broadcast community channels in HD. We selected the HE3100 for a number of reasons. Image quality is superb even under the tough conditions of a low bit rate and the HE3100 automated the conversion from SD to HD, a process that we previously performed manually. Moreover, the boot-up ^(*2) is extremely fast."

Tsuneo Okubo, head of NTT Electronics' Multimedia System Group, said this about the features of the HE3100: "We provided Chita Medias with the MPEG-2 HDTV Encoder HE3100 which has been acclaimed domestically and abroad for its ultra-sharp images. The HE3100 supports image formats such as 1080i, 720p and 480i, and by supporting a maximum of 2 audio systems, a total of 8 channels can be encoded. It has been praised for its easy operation from the front panel and short boot-up time. Through our Image Quality Improvement Group's continuous and unrelenting research into completely eliminating noise at low bit rates, we have made it possible to provide stable image quality at low bit rates."

In addition to promoting the worldwide expansion of high definition digital broadcasting, NTT Electronics plans to significantly contribute to the promotion of the rapid change to digital by cable TV of community channels.