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Satnews Daily
July 11th, 2010

Harmonic... Decoders Play The Game In South Africa (SatBroadcasting™)


[SatNews] Harmonic Inc.'s (NASDAQ: HLIT) cutting-edge contribution and distribution solutions were deployed to facilitate the live broadcast of the 2010 FIFA World Cup by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the official South African Broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup. The tournament has been played in 10 stadiums in nine South African cities from June 11 to July 11, 2010.

The SABC selected Harmonic Ellipse1000 contribution encoders, Electra® 8000 HD broadcast encoders and ProView™ integrated receiver/decoders (IRDs) along with Atecom’s ATM adaptors from local Harmonic partner Graphic Image Technologies (GIT) for this widely-viewed, multi-venue sports event. To bring the matches live to fans, the Harmonic unites were seamlessly integrated through Atecom Falcon ATM units over the local telco’s ATM network into SABC’s video infrastructure. The link-up facilitated networking the FIFA International Broadcast Centre (IBC) to the SABC’s Broadcasting Centre at the Sandton Convention Centre (SCC) and their master control room (MCR) in Auckland Park for final broadcast.

The Ellipse 1000 encoder is ideal for fixed contribution over IP and legacy ATM/PDH/SDH networks. A professional, high quality encoder, it provides efficient bit-rate utilization for delivery of high quality video. The Ellipse 1000 simultaneously encodes video feeds as MPEG-2 SD 4:2:0/4:2:2 and MPEG-4 AVC SD 4:2:0, providing a smooth and cost-effective migration path from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 AVC encoding schemes. It is firmware-upgradeable to MPEG-4 AVC HD as well, making it one of the most versatile encoders available. The professional ProView family of integrated receiver/decoders are broadcast-quality decoders, decryptors and interface converters that provide MPEG-2 and AVC SD/HD decoding, advanced transport stream processing, cutting-edge IP processing technologies and a variety of front-ends, including DVB-S2 and MPEG over IP.