Tandberg's DTV switch
Encoder can go from SD to HD with a card change
By Ken Kerschbaumer -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/25/2002
Tandberg Television is introducing is Voyager Lite, a DTV encoder that can be initially used for standard-definition broadcasts and then upgraded for HD demands.
According to Director of Marketing Lisa Hobbs, with the E5720 DTV encoder, which costs $25,000, a broadcast station doesn't have to purchase an SD encoder and then buy a separate HD encoder down the line.
"With this approach, the station will be able to simply buy a card and upgrade the unit," she says. "It'll be priced so that the total cost to the customer will be 125% to 130% the cost of the HD encoder. It will be a little more expensive than either an HD or SD encoder, but it's less than the cost of the HD encoder plus the SD encoder."
Al Nunez, vice president of sales and operations, Tandberg Television Americas, says a number of orders have already been placed for the two–rack-unit system.
Among IP-related transmission products Tandberg will introduce at NAB next month is a system that allows remote broadcast operations to set up a multiplexed outgoing video and audio service alongside an IP channel for two-way communications. Using IP over satellite, the system is designed for newsgathering or outside broadcast operations that want better communications with the home office.
"It's a two-way IP communications frontend for our MediaLink products that allow remote broadcast operations to have a return path for e-mail and access to a LAN or voice over IP," says Nunez.
Joining the 5720 is the 5710 encoder. It doesn't offer the upgradability of the 5720 but checks in at $21,000.
One of the keys to the entire product line is that options are software based. For example, stations can buy a base-unit encoder for constant-bitrate encoding today and add a variable-bitrate software option later.
