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DVB looks to future of digital television

The DVB Project has used NAB to unveil its plans for the future of digital television. DVB-T2 is designed to serve the broadcast environment after analogue switch-off so the standardisation process is tight: the call for technology went out on Monday 16 April, with the intention that the specification will be published in the first quarter of 2008, writes Dick Hobbs.

The DVB Project has used NAB to unveil its plans for the future of digital television. DVB-T2 is designed to serve the broadcast environment after analogue switch-off so the standardisation process is tight: the call for technology went out on Monday 16 April, with the intention that the specification will be published in the first quarter of 2008, writes Dick Hobbs.

Peter MacAvock, executive director of DVB, made the point that standards could not be set in stone forever: Moore’s Law made that impossible. “DVB’s role in an ever-changing technological world is to not only develop the necessary new technologies but also to improve upon its existing standards.”

DVB-T2 will be designed for fixed, portable and mobile reception, with a content payload at least 30% more than DVB-T. It will need to support a mixed payload of IP streams – suitable for mobile television, for example – as well as conventional transport streams in the same channel, to ensure compatibility with the very large numbers of set-top boxes in use by consumers.