NAB Event News
Motorola Moves Toward Single-Format Transmitting
By
Apr 16, 2008 - 11:19:33 AM

Like several other companies, Motorola is showcasing MPEG-4 encoding at NAB, but unlike those others, Motorola is taking steps to convert the MPEG-4 HD into multiple formats, allowing millions of viewers to access HD content.

“Where this MPEG-4 HD content is received at the cable company, we’re converting it to MPEG-2 HD so that they can distribute it on their cable plans that have not yet converted to MPEG-4,” explains Marty Stein, senior director of marketing for Motorola. “There are 60 million cable set tops that are only MPEG-2, so the whole cable market can now get access to the additional HD content that is being put out.”

Motorola also unveiled a new system to convert HD content back to standard definition for programmers who do not want to distribute multiple feeds.

“The whole idea is to get to the point where programmers transmit in one format, like MPEG-4 HD, and then at the redistribution points, the content gets turned into whatever format is appropriate for that market,” Stein says. “They have one signal and it regenerates into multiple signals at each of the redistribution points, so that’s what we’re providing.”

Stein hopes that with the ease of use his converters provide, more programmers will launch their content solely in HD, and Motorola can take care of the rest.

Also on display at the Motorola booth is the DH-02 personal media player, a hand-held device that uses the DVB-H standard for broadcasting. Although it is primarily being deployed in Europe, Stein says he expects to see the devices designed for use in ballparks stateside in the near future.