...of HD video equipment that is required for the transmission of HD video around the world. The tests of MPEG-4 (H.264) HD encoders and decoders from six vendors (ADTEC Digital, ATEME, Ericsson, Television Inc., Harris Broadcast, International Datacasting and NTT Electronics) recorded a 98 percent pass rate for video and a somewhat lower pass rate for audio – a significant improvement from earlier tests. Formal tests were conducted at Telesat in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from October 3- 7, 2011, and the results of these tests are now available on the WBU-ISOG website at: http://www.nabanet.com/wbuarea/library/documents.asp#sub_interoperability.
The MPEG-4 HD Codec Interoperability Program was sponsored by WBU-ISOG, an organization of international broadcasters whose goal is to examine and resolve technical issues concerning international video transmissions. Each participating vendor created 22 HD transport streams based on parameters set by WBU-ISOG. The transport streams were uploaded to a server and made available for downloading to all participants for internal vendor testing. Vendors then took their equipment to Telesat of Canada, which conducted formal tests. A total of 588 video tests and 112 audio tests were conducted. The tests were overseen by Thomas Gibbon, long time consultant/attorney to Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, on behalf of WBU-ISOG.
“One of the reasons the tests turned out so well is because of the hard work the vendors did before the tests,” he told a WBU-ISOG Forum in Zagreb. “The WBU-ISOG MPEG-4 interoperability program is critical for the global broadcasting industry because it gives assurance to broadcasters and satellite and fiber carriers that MPEG-4 HD video may be seamlessly transmitted around the world regardless of the particular HD encoder or decoder that is used.” The recent test results followed first round testing in 2009, also sponsored by WBUISOG with Telesat acting as test contractor.