WBU-ISOG (World Broadcasting Unions International Satellite Operations Group) has released the results of interoperability tests of HD video equipment required for the transmission of HD video around the world.
The tests of MPEG-4 (H.264) HD encoders and decoders from six vendors (ADTEC Digital, ATEME, Ericsson, Television Inc., Harris Broadcast, International Datacasting and NTT Electronics) recorded a 98% pass rate for video and a somewhat lower pass rate for audio – a significant improvement from earlier tests.
Formal tests were conducted at Telesat in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from October 3-7, 2011 and the results of these tests are now available for viewing on WBU-ISOG website pages.
The MPEG-4 HD Codec Interoperability Program was sponsored by WBU-ISOG, an organisation of international broadcasters whose goal is to examine and resolve technical issues concerning international video transmissions. Each participating vendor created 22 HD transport streams based on parameters set by WBU-ISOG. The transport streams were uploaded to a server and made available for downloading to all participants for internal vendor testing. Vendors then took their equipment to Telesat of Canada, which conducted formal tests. A total of 588 video tests and 112 audio tests were conducted.
The tests were overseen by Thomas Gibbon, long time consultant/attorney to Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, on behalf of WBU-ISOG.
“One of the reasons the tests turned out so well is because of the hard work the vendors did before the tests,” he told a WBU-ISOG Forum in Zagreb. “The WBU-ISOG MPEG-4 interoperability programme is critical for the global broadcasting industry because it gives assurance to broadcasters and satellite and fiber carriers that MPEG-4 HD video may be seamlessly transmitted around the world regardless of the particular HD encoder or decoder that is used.”
The recent test results followed first round testing in 2009, also sponsored by WBUISOG with Telesat acting as test contractor.
