Motorola announced that Starz Entertainment will utilize a Motorola four-channel, high-definition MPEG encoding system for the upcoming launch of its new HD channels—Starz Comedy, Starz Edge and Starz Kids & Family. The technology, offered by Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility Group, compresses, encrypts, and modulates the HD signals within a single integrated transmission system.
The new HD system is configured for Starz using Motorola’s Modular Uplink System, which will support Starz’s planned future migration to MPEG-4 compression technology. Motorola’s MPEG-4 AVC technology handles both 1920x1080i and 1280x720p resolutions at about half the bandwidth required for similar MPEG-2 coded signals.
Motorola’s new 1 RU DSR4410MD multiprogram demodulator/decryptor receives DVB-S2 modulated signals and decrypts up to 64 services from a single MPEG-2 transport stream.
“The MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 HD encoders interfaced seamlessly with the access control and transmission system in use today, so adding current and future HD services is very straightforward,” said Ray Milius, senior vice president of programming operations for Starz Entertainment.
