ATEME Enables ATSC Mux Density Increase Using High-Efficiency MPEG2

In addition to being in the forefront of HEVC research and leading industry committees and research groups, ATEME is committed to continuous investment in MPEG2 and H264 video quality enhancements. ATEME has been working with leading ATSC groups, cable operators and STB/decoder vendors to introduce a High-Efficiency MPEG2 (HE-MPEG2) codec.

The HE-MPEG2 is compatible with MPEG2 compliant decoders, including legacy STBs, digital televisions and digital to analog MPEG2 converters; it doesn’t require any change nor upgrade on existing devices. HE-MPEG2 enables ATSC stations to increase their mux density by 30% without compromising video quality, or maintain their current lineup while reducing the mux bitrate to enable joining the FCC reverse auction bid.

HE-MPEG2 is available on the TITAN pure software encoder-transcoder. The software platform ensures a future proof solution, with migration path to ATSC3.0 HEVC and 4K-UHD.

“The FCC reverse auction for the broadcast spectrum will lead to a paradigm shift”, said Dan Ambauen, Vice President of Sales at ATEME. “This can be achieved in two different ways: investing a lot to change all the equipment and move directly to ATSC3.0 in a so-called “Big Bang” scenario, or smoothly integrate HE-MPEG2 to free up bandwidth, and then upgrade the TITAN software to ATSC3.0 when needed.”