Thomson Video Networks today announced that Telecom Italia Media Broadcast (TIMB) has launched Italy’s first HD Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service carrying live 3D content, through its LA7 channel brand. The broadcaster inaugurated the service in November 2010 with the coverage of various rugby matches. Using the Thomson Video Networks ViBE EM3000 to achieve the picture quality necessary for delivering the optimum 3D experience, TIMB’s infrastructure for the new service also includes Thomson’s NetProcessor transport stream processor and XMS™ Network Management Systems.

Available on DTT and digital satellite, TIMB owns Italy’s third major network, serving digital terrestrial audiences nationwide with news, sports, and entertainment programming. TIMB’s ambitious strategy for the channel has seen major investment in state-of-the-art infrastructure, and the recruitment of Italy’s most popular anchor as news editor-in-chief in a push for growing audience share.

“For this flagship 3D service, we chose the best possible encoding solution so that our viewers would experience outstanding clarity,” said Crescenzo Micheli, CTO of TIMB. “The EM3000 integrates with the rest of the Thomson equipment installed across our network to provide very efficient delivery of this exceptional image quality.” 

Thomson’s ViBE EM3000 HD MPEG-2/MPEG-4 AVC encoder sets the standard for high-definition encoding for satellite and terrestrial broadcast, and content aggregation applications. With Thomson’s advanced video compression architecture combining efficiency and advanced preprocessing, increased depth and picture clarity in HD content can be achieved at bit rates as low as 4 Mbps. TIMB’s ViBE EM3000 HD installation is integrated with the NetProcessor transport stream processor and XMS Network Management System. Combined together, these components form a complete and highly efficient system, allowing broadcasters to deliver more channels within the same fixed-bandwidth satellite or terrestrial connection.
 
“It is always exciting to contribute to a pioneering event in broadcasting,” said Eric Louvet, vice president, worldwide sales and services at Thomson Video Networks. “LA7’s 3D launch is another very welcome milestone in the channel’s consistent growth, and in Thomson’s excellent relationship with TIMB.”

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