Eutelsat chooses Harmonic

Satellite operator Eutelsat has chosen technology provider Harmonic’s ProStream 1000 stream processing and transcoding platform to help deliver DTH services in Africa.

Eutelsat is using the Harmonic equipment to support its dual illumination of DVB-S/MPEG-2 and DVB-S2/MPEG-4 video.

According to Harmonic, the ProStream 1000 with ACE platform provides up to 20 HD or 60 SD channels of video and audio transcoding from a single rack unit. The solution incorporates ASI-to-IP multiplexing and integrates with Eutelsat’s existing headend, which includes Harmonic ProVie 7000 integrated receiver-decoders. Harmonic’s DiviTrac statistical multiplexing technology delivers up to 16 pools of transcoded channels with 64 channels per pool, according to the company.

“The main objective of this project was to capitalise on the bandwidth efficiencies offered by MPEG-4 while ensuring there was no discernible difference in service quality for our customers,” said Jerome Gressier, head of platforms engineering and operations team, at Eutelsat. “ProStream 1000 with ACE transcoding achieves excellent video quality at exceptionally low bit rates, enabling us to deliver additional channels at a more competitive price.”