SAN JOSE, CALIF. —Eutelsat Communications has selected Harmonic’s ProStream 1000 with ACE stream processing and transcoding solution to optimize bandwidth allocation for its direct-to-home service in Africa. Utilizing the scalable, ultra-dense ProStream platform, Eutelsat has implemented dual illumination of DVB-S/MPEG-2 and DVB-S2/MPEG-4 video content to increase satellite capacity and its DTH service offerings.
“The main objective of this project was to capitalize on the bandwidth efficiencies offered by MPEG-4 while ensuring there was no discernible difference in service quality for our customers,” said Jerome Gressier, head of the platforms engineering and operations team at Eutelsat.
The ProStream 1000 with ACE maximizes Eutelsat’s bandwidth efficiency by providing up to 20 HD or 60 standard defintion channels of video and audio transcoding from a single rack unit. The solution also incorporates asynchronous standards interface-to-Internet protocol multiplexing and scrambling while integrating with the existing headend, which includes Harmonic ProView 7000 integrated receiver-decoders. The ProStream solution offers DiviTrack statistical multiplexing technology to create 16 pools of transcoded channels with 64 channels each, enabling Eutelsat to support twice as many channels per satellite transponder.
The high-density platform uses reduced rack space and energy consumption, drawing 10 watts per HD channel and less than 3 watts per SD channel. The ProStream solution provides a scalable architecture to support additional channels, as well as services such as multiscreen.
“Harmonic has successfully implemented numerous DTH deployments in Africa and around the world, giving us a unique perspective on the bandwidth concerns affecting Eutelsat and their innovative dual illumination project,” said Ian Graham, Harmonic’s vice president of sales, Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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