Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark LLC (hereinafter “COMARK”), a manufacturer and supplier of DTV transmitters, encoding systems, and associated field services for over 45 years, has announced that Delta Media Corporation has upgraded their ATSC encoding systems with a new solution from Comark Digital Services (CDS).
Delta Media was using several hardware based ATSC encoder systems for their OTA stations. These older generation encoders limited the number of simultaneous HD programs and were not compatible with ATSC 3.0 / NextGen TV services.
CDS delivered a new “CDS powered by TITAN Live” software based ATSC encoding solution that provides 3 x HD and 3 x SD programs while delivering the highest Video Quality possible. The CDS powered by TITAN Live is a future-proof encoder that delivers ATSC 1.0 today and HEVC for future ATSC 3.0 / NextGen TV usage. Since the encoding solution is server based, additional encoding licenses can be added at any time in the future.
The new TITAN Live solution provides simultaneous encoding for several of the Delta Media DTV stations including KLWB (2xHD+1xSD), KDCG-CD (1xSD), and KXKW-LD (1xHD+1xSD). And with capacity to spare, future plans are to add KBCA to this system as well. Delta Media also provides a dedicated IP output of the encoder system via a point-to-point Ethernet circuit to their local cable TV operator.
The new encoder system is deployed on a two independent 1RU, high performance, on-premises server platforms (main & backup). The servers are equipped with SDI input cards and an ASI output cards. Future usage for NextGen TV is assured with GigE ethernet interfaces and since the system uses Virtual Machine (VM) technology the licenses could also be transferred to cloud-based deployment.
COMARK’s unprecedented market experience in headend designs and encoding systems began with the formation of Comark Digital Services during the original transition from analog to DTV. Comark Digital Services (CDS) was re-launched in 2018 to help broadcasters upgrade their headend solutions for both ATSC 1.0 and migrate to NextGen TV. CDS continues to provide market-leading solutions with best-of-breed technology and system expertise to help customers jump into the exciting possibilities offered by ATSC 3.0.
“The new TITAN Live system has convinced me that our stations made the best decision to purchase these units” states Lee Clardy Director of Engineering at Delta Media Corporation. “The TITAN Live encoder system in conjunction with two new PARALLAX® transmitters and three Hitachi-Comark low power transmitters, has provided significant improvements to the overall broadcast quality of our programming and prepared our stations to move forward with the coming of ATSC 3.0”
