Category: Â鶹ԼÅÄ; New Media
Date: 08.06.2006
Printable version
This is a joint press release
on behalf of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ, ITV, Channel 4 and Five.
Ìý
Â鶹ԼÅÄ, ITV, Channel
4 and Five have joined forces to launch the
UK's first high definition (HD) trial broadcasts to terrestrial aerials.
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A specially selected 450-strong audience sample collect their trial HD set top
boxes this week (beginning 5 June 2006) for the closed technical digital terrestrial
television (DTT) technical trial which is due to last six months.
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High definition is a step change in television technology which provides far clearer and more detailed pictures than normal standard definition TV. Each picture contains up to five times as much digital information as an ordinary TV picture.
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The trial will offer participating broadcasters and their technical partners valuable lessons about delivering HD broadcasts on a digital terrestrial network and also research how the audience enjoys this new format.
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It will help to discover whether there could be HD
broadcasts on Freeview in future.
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The trial is being conducted under an Ofcom licence which strictly limits the number of receivers and forbids reception of the trial stream by general members of the public.
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Humax and ADB (Advanced
Digital Broadcast) have supplied the HD set top boxes for the
trial.
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The DTT HD trial consists of low power transmissions from Crystal Palace in London on frequencies that are not suitable for high power broadcasting.
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National Grid Wireless (NGW) is transmitting the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's
HD stream, which went on air last month, and Red
Bee Media provides
play-out services.
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Arqiva is transmitting the multiplex shared by ITV,
Channel 4 and Five, with Grass Valley, a business within Thomson,
providing broadcast playout and video encoding equipment.
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Siemens
Business Services is providing technical support for the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's
HD trial.
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The test broadcasts will use MPEG4 video coding, 8K carriers and 64QAM modulation at launch - different parameters may be tested during the trial period.
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The Â鶹ԼÅÄ's trial DTT HD stream will offer identical programming to its HD trial broadcasts on satellite and cable over the trial period.
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That includes the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's World
Cup coverage, major Wimbledon matches and programming highlights such as Planet
Earth and Bleak
House.
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See bbc.co.uk/hd or bbc.co.uk/pressoffice for further
details.
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ITV will offer its own World Cup coverage in HD, completing the full line-up
of World Cup games, as well as drama such as Agatha Christie's Poirot specials
Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia, documentaries such as Jean-Michel
Cousteau's Ocean Adventures and classic films including All Quiet on the
Western Front and The Big Sleep.
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Channel 4's HD trial broadcasts will include hit US drama series Lost and Desperate
Housewives, FilmFour films and other Channel 4 programming.
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Five will be
showing episodes of popular US series CSI, plus commissioned programmes
such as Tim Marlow at MOMA and movies such as Cocktail.
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Research company TNS Media is conducting the panel research. The audience panel was selected from online volunteers who registered on a website in April. All had existing HD Ready television sets and will be supplied with special DTT HD set top boxes. Recruitment is closed.
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JB
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Notes to Editors
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About ADB
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Advanced Digital Broadcast provides a range of high-quality
products and services to the digital television market worldwide
and has deployed more than seven million set-top boxes since 1997.
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ADB is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland with main
offices in Poland and Taiwan and representation in eight other countries
around the world including the UK.
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About Arqiva
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Arqiva has a 50-year history in transmission and has
helped pioneer the technologies of the digital age.
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The company's Terrestrial Media Solutions division
provides national transmission for UK commercial television including
ITV, Channel 4, Five and associated digital multiplexes, playing
a leading role in the run-up to digital switchover.
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Transmission services also provided to vast majority
of UK independent radio stations, both analogue and digital.
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About Humax
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Humax is one of the world's largest manufacturers of digital set-top boxes, exporting its products to over 90 countries across the globe.Ìý The company is a leading supplier of high quality, feature-rich digital TV products, including Personal
Ìý
Video Recorders (PVRs) and HD-Ready Integrated Digital
TVs. The company headquarters and R&D facility are based in Korea,
with offices in Dubai, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the UK and
the US.Ìý
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About NGW
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National Grid Wireless is a wholly owned subsidiary of National Grid and one of two UK providers of terrestrial infrastructure for the transmission of analogue and digital television and radio broadcasts in the UK.
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National Grid Wireless has a strong position in the
growing digital television market, owning two of the six digital
terrestrial television licences and providing infrastructure services
to all the Freeview channels, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ and BSkyB.
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NGW is also the leading independent provider of infrastructure
to the mobile telecommunications operators in the UK.
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About Red Bee Media
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Red Bee Media provides the distribution and promotion of multimedia content, offering a comprehensive range of services to playout, publish, promote and provide media access for content across all media, from television to mobile phones.
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Red Bee Media is owned by Creative Broadcast Services,
which is in turn owned by Macquarie Capital Alliance Group (65%)
and Macquarie Bank (35%).
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About Siemens
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Siemens Business Services is an international leading IT service provider. This Siemens Group offers services all along the entire value chain - from consulting to systems integration, right through to the management of IT infrastructures.Ìý
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Siemens Business Services is among the top ten providersÌýof
outsourcing worldwide. With around 39,000 employees, the Group posted
sales in fiscal 2005 (ending 30 September 2005) of EUR 5.4 billion,
75 percent of which was achieved outside the Siemens organization.
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About Thomson
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Thomson's Systems and Equipment division develops video and film technologies, products and services sold to all major Hollywood studios, all major television, satellite, and cable broadcasters under the Grass Valley brand-name for the delivery of analogue and digital entertainment.
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The division also includes Thomson's Access Platforms
and Gateways Business, which develops technologies and products
for broadband and telecommunication networks to deliver digital entertainment
and data to consumers and businesses.ÌýThe GroupÌýincludes the Technicolor,
Grass Valley, RCA and Thomson brands.
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About TNS
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TNS is a market information group. It is the world's largest provider of custom research and analysis, a leader in political and social polling and a major supplier of consumer panel, media intelligence and TV and radio audience measurement services.Ìý
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TNS
operates across a global network in over 70 countries, allowing it to provide
internationally consistent, up-to-the-minute and high quality information and
analysis.
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