Louise Duffy ©RapidTVNews | 24-08-2011


Chinese broadcasters Chongqing TV and Qinghai TV have deployed Ericsson’s Voyager II digital satellite news gathering (DSNG) solution to enable them to deliver live HD and 3D programming.

Qinghai TV is a Mandarin language broadcaster, reaching 5 million consumers in Qinghai province. Chongqing TV has over 4 million cable subscribers across the 40 counties of Chongqing in south west China.

Zhao Ping, director of technical center, Qinghai TV, said: “We chose the Voyager II solution to support our live event broadcasting because it offers us the best return on our investment.

“It gives us a great deal of flexibility, both in presentation and delivery, while at the same time allowing us to make efficient use of bandwidth.”

Zhou Xun, director of chief engineer office, Chongqing TV, added: “Ericsson has a well established reputation in the Asia-Pacific region and its experience in this market makes it the ideal partner for delivering a DSNG solution.

“Having worked with Ericsson before we are confident that the Voyager II will allow us to deliver the top quality television experience our consumers want."

Ericsson's Voyager II is a new concept from the company that invented the modern DSNG solution over 15 years ago. It is the first to use MPEG-4 AVC 4:2:2 encoding with 10-bit precision and hardware support for resolutions up to 1080p/50/60. Based on industry feedback, it introduces a bottom-up re-engineered hardware and menu structure, allowing fast access to the most common SNG operations, easy monitoring of incoming audio and video signals and operator customisation.

Mats Olsson, head of China & North East Asia, Ericsson, said: “In such a fast moving market, it’s important for broadcasters to be able to deliver the TV experience that consumers demand, not only today but also in the future as the market evolves and moves towards all HD TV.

“As the Asian television market continues to grow, the consumer demand for quality live TV also increases. More than ever, viewers now expect occasions such as large sports events to be available in HD and potentially 3D in the future. The Voyager II DSNG has been designed to allow broadcasters to meet those challenges for years to come.”