Tokyo Broadcasting System Selects NTT Electronics' AVC/H.264 Products for HD SNG Video Encoding for All Affiliates

— NTT Electronics Provides Powerful HD Conversion of AVC/H.264 and DVB-S2 SNG —

NTT Electronics Corporation (hereafter, NTT Electronics, Tomoyuki Tojima, President, headquartered in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward) , developer of numerous high-quality broadcasting codec devices used throughout the world, will provide its AVC/H.264 encoder (HVE9100) and decoder (HVD9100) to Tokyo Broadcasting System, Inc. (hereafter, TBS, headquartered in Tokyo's Minato Ward), one of the largest broadcasting networks in Japan. The HVE9100 encoder and HVD9100 decoder, support both the HD and SD formats.

In March 2008, TBS took an industry-leading position when it decided to use an HD SNG system that combines DVB-S2 and AVC/H.264. The operation of this new system is slated to begin in December 2008. TBS is also aiming for a complete HD conversion of the SNG systems at all of its affiliates by September 2009. NTT Electronics' HVE9100 and HVD9100 devices will be used at all 28 affiliate stations, affording each station high-quality HD AVC/H.264 contribution and highly efficient content distribution with other affiliates.

Mr. Yutaka Shibata, Technology Development Director for the Technology Division's Broadcasting System Center at TBS, commented on the selection of codecs from NTT Electronics: “TBS' involvement in HD SNG was widely discussed by the Digital Transmission Study Group, an internal review group. We considered codecs from several companies, and finally chose NTT Electronics' HVE9100 and HVD9100. The ability to have a minimal delay time on the order of 200msec and retain the ability to use our MPEG-2 codecs were critical factors in our decision. We're looking forward to the resulting improvements in image quality."

“The HD/SD dual-supporting AVC/H.264 HVE9100 encoder and HVD9100 decoder that TBS has chosen includes a newly developed IC that provides AVC/H.264 compression, supports 4:2:2 chroma and realizes the same minimal delay time (on the order of 200msec) as MPEG-2 devices. Given the SNG environment that TBS is using, we expect that our devices will be used in a wide variety of ways. With support for a wide range of bit rates, the HVE9100 and HVD9100, which enable high-quality and highly efficient image compression for all possible uses, is truly the best match for their needs. Given the work done by our image quality improvement team, which got their start with the development of our MPEG-2 IC, NTT Electronics remains committed to further improving image quality and continuing to improve performance at low bit rates," said Hisashi Kasahara, director of the Business Division at NTT Electronics.

The HD/SD dual-supporting AVC/H.264 HVE9100 encoders and HVD9100 decoders support both HD (1080i and 720p) and SD (480i and 576i) and a maximum of two audio systems, for a total of eight-channel encoding and decoding. By also supporting the MPEG-2 format as well as AVC/H.264, their flexibility really shines when handling a multitude of different compression formats. Since these devices began shipping in January 2008, there has been a great deal of interest in them from companies worldwide, with many broadcasters planning to use AVC/H.264 codecs for live HD coverage of the Beijing Summer Olympics this August.

In addition, NTT Electronics will display these products at NAB2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center from April 14th through the 17th.


AVC/H.264 HDTV/SDTV Encoder/Decoder HV9100 series