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Article: DirecTV's motown bound with MPEG-4: new codec ships broadcast HDTV in less bandwidth.(TECHNOLOGY)(high-definition Moving Pictures Expert Group signals)
- Article from:
- Multichannel News
- Article date:
- November 21, 2005
- Author:
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Several weeks ago, Direc-TV Inc. quietly launched high-definition MPEG4 (Moving Pictures Expert Group) signals in its first market, Detroit, ushering in a new era in transmission for the leading direct-broadcast satellite provider.
The move to MPEG-4 makes no qualitative difference to consumers--subscribers can receive the same four Detroit TV stations in HD with current MPEG-2 set-tops. But while a single MPEG-2 HD stream takes up the space of six standard-definition TV channels, MPEG-4 is at least twice as efficient, taking up the equivalent of three channels or less, according to DirecTV chief technology officer Romulo Pontual.
Next year, the company ...