DirecTV has deployed Harmonic’s DiviCom Electra 7000 high-definition MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoders for the satellite service provider’s national HD channel expansion. The solution implemented at DirecTV for the new HD services also included Harmonic’s ProStream1000 stream processing platform with DiviTrackIP distributed statistical multiplexing and Harmonic’s NMX Digital Service Manager.
“The Electra 7000 enabled us to provide superior video quality for the latest expansion of our HD channel lineup that will include up to 100 national HD channels by year-end,” said Romulo Pontual, chief technology officer at DirecTV.
The Electra 7000 platform encodes up to four 1080i or 720p HD channels in one rack unit and delivers simultaneous low-resolution output for applications such as picture-in-picture and digital mosaics. When used in combination with NMX and DiviTrackIP IP-based statistical multiplexing solution, operators can adjust bit-rates according to the complexity of the content and create “virtual headends” with any encoder in any multiplex, Harmonic said.
