DVB Approves New Transmission Spec

The enhanced DVB-S2 specification known at DVB-S2X was approved at the 76th meeting of the DVB Steering Board last week. DVB said it DVB-S2X offers spectral efficiency gains for professional applications by up to 20 to 30 percent and in some instances, gains of up to 50 percent. New operational modes allow channel bonding, combining multiple channels to increase flexibility and bandwidth.

The improvements in DVB-S2X include more choices for roll-of factors, additional modulation and forward error correction options, additional framing and scrambling options for very low SNR applications, and bonding of up to three channels. The optional super-framing structure allows use of advanced interference mitigation techniques for interactive broadband services. DVB-GSE/GSE-Lite protocols could facilitate migration to full IP services in the future.

DVB-S2X can be implemented using HEVC for video coding, allowing for broadcasts of HEVC coding via direct-to-home satellites.

"Throughout the technical activity, I was impressed to see European, U.S. and Far East companies, operating in different business environments such as broadcasting, VSAT or DSNG playing together, as if in a symphonic orchestra, to design a state of the art common system," said Albert Morello, the DVB TM-S2 chair.

DVB's executive director, Peter Siebert, added: "We are delighted that the Steering Board has now approved the new DVB-S2X specification and I would like to congratulate all the Members that have actively contributed to bringing about this step forward in updating the excellent DVB S2 standard. The satellite industry has been anxiously awaiting this standardization which will help it to improve profitability, interoperability and achieve further growth."

DVB has made the DVB-S2X extensions available online: Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Second generation framing structure, channel coding and modulation systems for Broadcasting, Interactive Services, News Gathering and other broadband satellite applications: Part II: S2-Extensions (DVB-S2X) – (Optional) – DVB Document A83-2.

Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.