KTLA Puts Telairity BC8100 HD Encoder Into Service: First MPEG-4 Encoder for News Copters

KTLA Puts Telairity BC8100 HD Encoder Into Service: First MPEG-4 Encoder for News Copters

New encoder upgrades video quality while lowering output transmission rate from 18Mbs to 12Mbs

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Telairity announced today that KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, one of the nation's most distinguished local television news organizations, has successfully completed switching over its helicopter news transmissions to high definition MPEG-4 using the Telairity BC8100 H.264/AVC HD encoder.

Mounted aboard Sky5 HD, the station's flagship news helicopter, the BC8100 encoder helped KTLA switch its compression technology from the older, more data intensive MPEG-2 to the more efficient MPEG-4 format. The Telairity encoder is the world's first MPEG-4 encoder expressly designed for aerial news vehicles, including both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

KTLA turned to TELAIRITY to design a new MPEG-4 HD encoder: a natural extension of the company equipping the station's fleet of 10 live ENG ground vehicles with Telairity's BH8100 HD MPEG-4 encoders. KTLA broadcasts over eight hours of live studio and field news per day, and virtually all in HD.

The transition of Sky5 HD from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 compression technology was triggered by the broadcast industry's permanent switchover from analog to digital technology, which was completed this month (6/15/09).

A side effect of this change has the squeezing of the available bandwidth for Broadcast Auxiliary Services (BAS), used to transmit from the field to the studio or to a remote transmission site, from 18Mbps and higher to 12Mbps and lower. With older MPEG-2 compression technology, acceptable HD video quality cannot be achieved with the reduced digital bandwidth.

According to Howard Sachs, CEO of Telairity, "We made KTLA's decision easy. First, we had already established a reputation for exceptional value, quality, reliability, and service with our BH8100 encoder, deployed in KTLA's fleet of ENG trucks. Second, because we control all our own encoder technology, from chip to sheet metal, we were the only company able to meet KTLA's stringent form factor and other requirements for aerial use in time to keep Sky5 HD on the air, with the digital transition set for the start of June in the LA area."

KTLA, owned by Tribune Broadcasting and a CW affiliate, was among the first stations to present high definition newscasts, beginning in 2007, and the first station to deploy advanced MPEG-4 technology for HD in its ENG vehicles.

Based on the same highly efficient, low-latency H.264/AVC encoding technology used in its other encoders, the BC8100 encoder is designed to support robust live transmissions from airborne news units. It virtually eliminates fade-out problems, allowing studio decoders to lock on to its signals nearly four times faster than other systems.

"KTLA has been with us every step of the way in the development of this airborne encoding system," Sachs added. "We thank the engineering staff for its support and look forward to the station's inclusion of our encoders as part of its everyday HD broadcast equipment package."

About Telairity

Telairity is a supplier of innovative real-time H.264/AVC (MPEG-4) video compression solutions for broadcasting, backhaul, IPTV, and related markets. The company's unique video processing technology, based on the Telairity T1P2000 multi-core video processor and associated direct-execution AVClairity video compression software, delivers the industry's lowest latency and best price/performance for real-time H.264 video encoders today, with unique features like "instant-on" service. The company is based in Santa Clara, Calif. Further information is available at www.telairity.com.

Telairity and AVClairity are trademarks of Telairity, Inc. All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

Source: Telairity Semiconductor

CONTACT: Skip Ferderber of Skip Ferderber & Associates, +1-425-315-1724,
skip.ferderber@skipf1.com, for Telairity; or Harlan McGhan of Telairity,
+1-408-764-0270, ext. 518, harlan@telairity.com

Web Site: http://www.telairity.com/

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