NTT Electronics' MPEG-2 HDTV encoder/decoder units will be put into service this month by International Media Services for the first time to help cover the pro baseball spring training camps now underway in Florida through the end of March.
HD images are sent to remote trucks where NTT's HE3100 encoder compresses the HD-SDI data into MPEG-2 streams for SNG transmission. Video images from spring training will be distributed to both Japanese and American sports networks via satellite newsgathering and fiber optic lines.
The HE3100 supports 1080i and 720p for HD, and 576i and 480i for SD formats. The encoder also encodes four audio channels and up to two systems, allowing for up to eight channels to be encoded. NTT said that its units are enabled for "quick boot" and can be operated totally from its front panel. NTT said the lip-sync function has a synchronization delay of zero.
