Ericsson supports Telespazio for HD content

Ericsson has signed an agreement with Telespazio to expand the company's current service offering to include MPEG-4 AVC HD and SD channels, while maintaining existing MPEG-2 SD channels at premium quality within the existing content distribution infrastructure.

"Telespazio will benefit from cost savings as a result of continuing to use its existing Ericsson multiplexer platform and current transponder space. The deployment of the Ericsson AVP 4000 system encoder will give the company sufficient bandwidth to enable the introduction of new content distribution services," the company said in a statement.

"Ericsson's unique solution, delivered by its regional business partner Diem Technologies, is powered by the company's first ever professional video processing chip and will provide best-in-class compression capabilities to Telespazio, allowing it to introduce its new HD and SD services in the most rapid and flexible manner," it said.

"The Ericsson AVP family of video processors has been very well received by broadcasters and operators around the world. It offers the highest performance and broadest capability in the industry on a single platform across all applications, from SD to HD, 1080p50/60, 3DTV and Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV), and all codecs, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and JPEG2000, with 4:2:0 and 4:2:2, 8-bit and 10-bit all supported," according to a release.

"The deployment of the Ericsson AVP 4000, the most powerful compression platform of its kind, will enable the company to address many of the challenges caused by the continued consumer demand for high quality, high definition video content," said Dr. Giles Wilson, Head of TV Compression Business, Ericsson.

"Tests have proved that Ericsson is able to offer superior picture quality, and we are pleased that the expansion of our partnership with Telespazio will enable the company to continue to deliver the quality of content its customers expect," said Dr. Wilson.