Eutelsat uses Harmonic video processing solutions

The Prostream 1000 transcoder with ACE allows the satellite operator to increase its services and video quality in its DTH service for Africa.

The global satellite operator Eutelsat Communications has chosen the Prostream 1000 streaming and transcoding processor with ACE from Harmonic in order to optimize bandwidth allocation for its direct-to-home (DTH) service in Africa.

The use of this high-density platform is allowing it to offer both DVB-S/MPEG-2 and DVB-S2/MPEG-4, thus increasing the capacity of the satellite and its DTH offer, as well as providing higher video quality to subscribers.

The director of engineering and operations of Eutelsat platforms, Jerome Gressier, highlighted that "the objective of the project was to take advantage of bandwidth efficiency through the use of MPEG-4, while guaranteeing quality of service. The Prostream 1000 with ACE achieves excellent video quality and an exceptionally low bit rate, which allows us to offer additional channels at a very competitive price."

The solution maximizes Eutelsat's bandwidth, providing up to 20 and 60 channels (depending on HD or SD) with audio transcoding, in a single rack unit. Prostream also includes ASI to IP multiplexing and encoding with integration into existing headend, including Harmonic ProView 7000 with integrated decoder-receivers. The system offers DiviTrack statistical multiplexing technology to create up to 16 transcoded channel groups with 64 channels per system, allowing Eutelsat to deliver the best video quality with the lowest possible bandwidth. Therefore, Eutelsat can support double the number of channels per satellite transponder.

The platform reduces operating expenses by reducing rack space and power consumption, with only 10 watts per HD channel and less than 3 watts per SD channel. Due to its scalable architecture, Prostream can also handle additional channels, as well as allow the incorporation of other multi-screen services.