TANDBERG Television Takes MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 Beyond the Encoding Box

TANDBERG Television Takes MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 Beyond the Encoding Box

Teams with partners to show complete advanced compression systems and interoperability for today's SD and HD deployments

ATLANTA, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- NAB2005 - South Hall, Booth #SU7858

-- At NAB2005 TANDBERG Television is continuing its lead in the advanced compression arena with first-to-market products, real-world deployments and integration with silicon, set-top box and software vendors for end-to-end advanced encoding systems. The company is at the cutting edge of technology development for both MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 (Microsoft's implementation of VC-1, the proposed SMPTE standard) and is now leading the market with double digit deployments and over 500 standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) advanced encoders shipped. In addition, over 3000 TANDBERG MPEG-2 encoders have been shipped with the capability to be easily upgraded to advanced video encoding.

"We come to NAB2005 with end-to-end advanced encoding solutions that are enabling broadcasters and operators to take advantage today of the bandwidth savings and increased operational efficiency of MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1). Deploying these codecs requires a lot more than just an encoding box. In order to fully exploit the business model benefits of these new technologies operators need fully featured head-ends and confidence that the system will work all the way over the network and onto their subscribers' TV sets. We are proud to be working closely with the industry's leading silicon vendors and set-top box manufacturers, as well as conditional access, DRM and middleware providers to ensure our customers' businesses are successful," says Eric Cooney, CEO of TANDBERG Television.

Highlights of TANDBERG Television's NAB booth will include end-to-end demonstrations of Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) and MPEG-4 AVC in live TV over DSL and HDTV DTH satellite delivery networks. These demos will show the complete TANDBERG Television advanced encoding environment with first-to- market encoding, modulation, statistical multiplexing and control and monitoring solutions. Both of these SD and HD advanced compression demos will also show advanced end-to-end systems and interoperability with a wide range of silicon and set-top box vendors.

Visitors to the Microsoft booth (SL 332) will be able to see another NAB- first with a live HD Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) demonstration to a set-top box. The system uses TANDBERG Television's Windows Media 9 Series EN5980 HD encoder to deliver broadcast-quality HD pictures to the RCA IP1100 High Definition Networked Entertainment Set-Top Box Platform, Thomson's next generation decoder incorporating advanced video compression technology.

TANDBERG Television interoperability announcements and advanced compression demos at NAB2005 include:

Silicon

Broadcom - Broadcom Corporation is working actively with TANDBERG Television on interoperability of its 7038/7411 and 7318/7411 chipsets and this has been proven with the TANDBERG MPEG-4 AVC encoders for both HD and SD. At NAB 2005 you can see Broadcom in the AVC Alliance booth SL 4101, ground floor, South Hall, LVCC.

Conexant - TANDBERG Television and Conexant have conducted joint interoperability tests that prove that Conexant's leading MPEG semiconductor solutions and TANDBERG Television's EN5990 real-time encoder for HD MPEG-4 AVC work together seamlessly. The tests also provide broadcasters with an additional level of assurance that Conexant and TANDBERG Television products conform to industry standards to form a complete solution for their future broadcast needs.

Sigma Designs - the company is currently in the process of interoperability testing with TANDBERG MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) encoders. At NAB 2005 you can see Sigma's SMP8630 series demonstrated in the company's suite at the Hilton hotel. Sigma's SMP8630 series are secure media processors that were launched at CES this year. The SMP8630 chipsets are the industry's first to combine support of high-definition decoding in all major formats including H.264, WMV9/VC1 and MPEG-2. These chipsets also provide comprehensive content security with extensive digital rights management (DRM) support.

Texas Instruments - offering the right mix of high performance and programmability, the TI DM64x generation of Digital Media Processors has successfully passed interoperability tests in a number of different set top boxes with TANDBERG MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) encoders. At NAB 2005 you can see TI on booth # SL3845 (South Hall).

Set-Top Boxes

ADB - ADB's 3100W series set-top box has successfully completed interoperability testing with TANDBERG MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) encoders. At NAB2005 you can see ADB's products in various locations. Advanced Digital Broadcast, founded in 1995, provides a diverse range of high quality products and services to the digital broadcast and broadband markets world-wide. Since releasing its first unit in 1997 the company has deployed over 4 million set-top boxes across high-volume markets incorporating a wide range of middleware, conditional access and hardware configurations.

Amino - Amino and TANDBERG Television have worked together on several IPTV deployments and are collaborating on integration and testing of Amino's advanced set-top box product line with the TANDBERG MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) encoders.

i3 micro technology - the interoperability of i3's MPEG-4 AVC Mood(TM) 300 IP set-top boxes and TANDBERG Television's advanced encoding systems is key to leading IPTV service providers, as confirmed by mutual pilot installation customers like Belgacom, Belgium's largest supplier of broadband services.

Kreatel - the Kreatel set-top box platform has successfully completed interoperability testing with the TANDBERG MPEG-4 AVC and Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) encoders and is already in tests with broadcasters and operators. At NAB 2005 you can see Kreatel's products running live within IPTV and satellite DTH showcases of advanced encoding on TANDBERG Television's booth (SU7858), and also on the Alcatel and Irdeto booths.

SafeNet - (which recently acquired DMDsecure) has worked with TANDBERG Television for over 2 years and provides fully interoperable live DRM solutions working with the TANDBERG EN5920 and EN5980 Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) SD and HD encoders. At NAB you can see a demonstration of SafeNet's DRM solution at the Microsoft booth South Hall SL 332.

Sentivision - the Sentivision SV-510 set-top box has successfully completed interoperability testing with the TANDBERG EN5930 MPEG-4 AVC encoder. Sentivision is an innovative provider of cutting-edge media technologies and products for the digital entertainment market. Sentivision products include set-top boxes, video codecs, content streaming engines, and more. Sentivision is committed to providing its customers with solutions enabling secure and reliable video transmission over low and medium bandwidth IP-based networks, such as DSL lines.

Thomson - already collaborating on real-world deployments, TANDBERG Television and Thomson have worked closely together to ensure interoperability across their advanced compression solutions. The RCA IP1100 Networked Entertainment Set-Top Box Platform is Thomson's next generation decoder incorporating advanced video compression technology. The IP1100 is fully compatible with the TANDBERG Television ICE (Intelligent Compression Engine) encoders for SD and HD Windows Media Video 9 (VC-1) and MPEG-4 AVC, as well as MPEG-2. Visitors to NAB can see the RCA IP1100 decoders on the Thomson booth SU7823.

About TANDBERG Television

TANDBERG Television (Oslo: TAT.OL) designs and develops professional systems that enable new business models in the media and entertainment market through the delivery of high quality live digital video and on-demand content. The company provides open standards-based technology solutions, systems integration, support and monitoring through its sales and 24-hour support operations in the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. TANDBERG Television's customers include many of the major broadcasters, network operators, telephone companies, cable operators and content owners around the world. For more information visit: http://www.tandbergtv.com/

On February 4th 2005 TANDBERG Television completed its acquisition of N2 Broadband Inc., a provider of scalable, open-platform solutions for on-demand entertainment. These award winning on-demand products are now available from TANDBERG Television under the brand of N2 On-Demand Solutions.

Source: TANDBERG Television

CONTACT: Gay Bell of Platform PR, +44-(0)-20-8964-9149, gbell@platformpr.com; Brian Galante of Pipeline Comm., +1-215-659-8111, briang@pipecomm.com; or Lisa Hobbs of TANDBERG Television, +1-407-736-8462, lhobbs@tandbergtv.com

Web site: http://www.tandbergtv.com/

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