HDTV came to Europe last week with the kick-off of HD direct broadcast satellite service from Sat.1 HD and ProSieben HD.
The ProSiebenSat.1 Group uses the new HD format, and its two channels will broadcast in HDTV alongside SD channels. Both HD channels became available Oct. 26 via the ASTRA satellite system.
Sat.1 HD and ProSieben HD will be distributed using the new DVB S2 modulation process via ASTRA at 19.2 degrees east on transponder 102. Both stations are using the 1080i/50 format using the MPEG-4 AVC compression standard. Audio encoding uses the AC3 standard.
