NTT Electronics AVC/H.264 Encoders/Decoders Selected for Nine Network Australia's HD Cricket Coverage
November 18, 2008

NTT Electronics Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward (hereafter, NTT Electronics) Hiroshi Yoshimura, President, is pleased to announce that it's award-winning HV9100 Series AVC/H.264 HDTV/SDTV encoders / decoders have been selected by leading Australian television network Nine Network Australia, for use on their HD sports coverage.

NTT Electronics' HV9100 Series allows broadcast of sports with intense action levels to be shown in high video 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.

The HV9100 series 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 HV9100 series also supports optionally up to 16 channels of audio input capability and an IP interface. The HV9100 Series gained a great deal of attention right after its release in January 2008, has already been selected in many broadcasting stations - with a broad use case from domestic stations' content transmissions to contributions or distributions in North America, Europe, and Brazil area.

The HV9100 Series, selected by Nine Network Australia, has established outstanding performance in many world-wide sports events - such as Olympics and UEFA 2008. “Nine Network Australia's acquisition of broadcast rights of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and 2012 London Olympics is a further opportunity for us to contribute Australia's HD broadcasting evolution" said Hisashi Kasahara, General Manager of Multimedia Systems Division at NTT Electronics.

AVC/H.264 HDTV/SDTV encoder HVE9100

About Nine Network Australia

The Nine Network is one of Australia's top-rating commercial television networks - reaching over 11.4 million Australians every week and 82% of the total viewing audience. When it comes to news, sport, entertainment and major events, viewers tune in to the Channel Nine.

The Nine Network's strength and consistency comes from its extensive news and current affairs coverage, rights to broadcast popular sporting events and its slate of entertainment and lifestyle programs.

The Nine Network continues to set benchmarks in news and sports coverage with multi award winning shows including 60 Minutes, Today, Sunday, A Current Affair and Wide World of Sports.

Channel Nine 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.