Korea Telecom Selects Ericsson Encoders to Enable 20 New HD Channels

Korea Telecom (KT), the nation’s largest IPTV operator, has chosen Ericsson’s AVP 4000 MPEG-4 HD system encoders to enable 20 new HD channels over the next three years, offering improved picture quality and lower transmission delay in its delivery. The future-proofed solution will also simplify network monitoring and control.

Ericsson’s AVP 4000 MPEG-4 HD system encoders offer a system that meets the needs of IPTV, cable, satellite, and transmission, delivering greater reliability and flexibility to withstand the demands of a new TV landscape. The Ericsson AVP 4000 is powered by the company’s first propriety programmable video processing chip, designed specifically to offer capability for all applications. The solution also includes Ericsson nCompass — a platform that enables service providers fully automated failure detection and switching, equipment configuration, and scheduling from a single view.

“With a burgeoning rise in the number of IPTV subscribers in Korea, it is fundamentally important that we are able to guarantee a viewing experience that offers the necessary consistency and quality to meet the continually evolving demands of the 5.9 million Korean households that we deliver to,” says a senior spokesperson at KT. “Having first worked alongside Ericsson in 2008, we have long benefited from the strength of its encoding heritage and vast experience in the compression field. This deployment will deliver a platform from which we can extend our HD channel delivery, drawing upon Ericsson’s expertise and reliable solutions to compete in the Korean market.”

The installation of the Ericsson AVP 4000 encoders, which are used by more than 80 percent of the Korean IPTV Head End market, will reduce KT’s encoding delay to less than 700ms. This solution will also enable KT to deliver further upgrades in the future, including a pathway to UHDTV.

“Although today’s viewers are continually challenging and remolding what the future TV experience will look like, at the core of every service provider’s roadmap should be a desire to delight the TV consumer every day by delivering seamless, high quality content,” says Dr. Giles Wilson, Head of TV Compression. “The Ericsson AVP 4000 enables service providers to deliver deeper and richer TV services to consumers at reduced costs by leveraging our powerful in-house programmable video chipset, which offers a cost-effective solution that can be customized around their respective bandwidth requirements. This deployment will enable KT to lead the media industry’s evolution into the internet era of television and re-establish the value of its services by guaranteeing the best possible compression performance for its mobile and IPTV subscribers.”