Envivio is providing the video encoding for MTV’s mobile TV services in Brazil. Significantly – especially for DVB and MediaFLO – the channel’s mobile programming is being delivered using a Brazilian variant of the Japanese ISDB-T digital terrestrial television standard which includes the 1seg specification for mobile TV, writes Adrian Pennington.
As Brazil is among the world’s largest mobile phone markets, with more than 110 million users, the government mandated that content delivery to mobile devices be included within the new national digital TV system. The Envivio 4Caster B3 encoder, selected by MTV as well as several other broadcasters, is the first encoding product to support the specification defined within the Brazilian 1seg mobile TV standard.
“The broadcasting community in Brazil is very excited about the enormous potential offered by ISDB-T. Not only does it allow us to offer digital SD and HD services directly to viewers, but also to expand our offering to include mobile TV,” said Valter Pascotto, director of engineering at MTV Brazil. “It is well known that 1seg transmission offers superior signal delivery. Coupling this with Envivio’s excellent video encoding, we are able to offer an exceptionally high quality mobile TV experience. So good in fact, I believe it will be this mobile TV service that really catches our customers’ attention, and drives the broad adoption of digital TV in Brazil.”
MTV and five other broadcasters – TV Globo, TV Record, BAND TV, SBT, and TV Gazeta – officially began their digital terrestrial TV broadcasts in S_o Paulo (the biggest city in Brazil) on 2 December. Service bouquets include mobile, SD and HD content. Coverage for the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Goiania, Salvador, and Recife is targeted for 2008.
“We selected Envivio’s encoding products because of their remarkable encoding performance at low bit rates and resolutions, and because of their compliance with Brazil’s 1seg specifications,” added Pascotto. “We are also happy to rely on a partner that has so much global experience in mobile TV encoding.”
“Supporting Brazilian broadcasters with standard compliant solutions further demonstrates Envivio’s position as the world’s leading supplier of video compression products for mobile TV. It adds to the success we have already had with ISDB-T in Japan,” said Julien Sign_s, president and CEO of Envivio. “It is an honour to have been chosen by MTV for this historic project.”
