WRAL uses Harmonic technology to deliver four simultaneous HD broadcasts

WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC, the first commercially licensed HDTV broadcast station in the United States, has deployed Harmonic’s digital video solutions for a unique broadcast application.

Using Harmonic’s DiviCom MPEG-2 HD encoders, WRAL was able to provide real-time broadcast delivery of four simultaneous basketball games in 1080i HD to a regional cable operator during the recent NCAA National Collegiate Basketball Tournament. The simultaneous HD broadcast — the first of its kind — was made possible by leveraging the compression efficiency of the MV 500 MPEG-2 encoder.

The MV 500 allowed WRAL to provide the delivery of the four simultaneous NCAA basketball games without sacrificing any video quality of WRAL’s over-the-air HD and SD TV broadcasts. Harmonic’s latest generation of IP-based MPEG-2 solutions, including the Electra 5000 multichannel MPEG-2 SD encoders and the ProStream stream processing platform with DiviTrackIP distributed statistical multiplexing capabilities, are also being deployed by WRAL for its broadcast ATSC service.

For more information, visit www.harmonicinc.com.