While the ATSC pursues an investigation of advanced digital television transmission technology and U.S. broadcasters face an uncertain future over how much spectrum they’ll have for their over-the-air service, one industry player pushed the transmission envelop in Amsterdam with a unique booth demonstration.
At IBC2010, Harris conducted a continuous demonstration intended to prove the viability of 3-D over DVB-T2 transmission for broadcasters
The DVB-T2 standard succeeds the DVB-T/H standard, and provides the additional over-the-air capacity to enable bandwidth for new services like 3-D television. DVB-T is deployed in more than 30 countries globally and is the most widely deployed digital terrestrial system. DVB-T2 is an emerging standard for the same regions, including Europe, Africa and southern Asia.
"Upon surveying global activity, Harris recognized the growing desire for trials and implementation of DVB-T2, as well as the continued development of 3-D technology and growing consumer interest," said Harris VP and general manager of transmission systems Phil Argyris. The 3-D via DVB-T2 demo was intended to show the viability of transmitting 3-D. Harris showed a complete production-to-broadcast workflow solution for 3-D over DVB-T2 transmission at IBC.
For the demonstration, the company used its X50 multiple application video and audio platform, HD/SD encoding and DVB-T2 gateway equipment, Apex M2X multimedia exciter, and a DVB-T2-capable consumer set-top box to receive the signal.
The transmission aspect of the demonstration focused on the Apex M2X multimedia exciter and its ability to process a DVB-T2 modulated, 3-D-compatible stream. The Apex M2X is a software-definable exciter.
