IPTV

Delivering video services to millions of households with the limited bandwidth typical of xDSL networks requires high-quality, high-reliability, low-bit-rate encoding. Harmonic’s family of Electra™ encoders meets all these requirements, as well as reducing the cost per channel through high channel density and offering maximum flexibility with an all-IP architecture.

The Electra encoders are equipped with all the features required for a broadcast environment (e.g. closed caption, Teletext) as well as for IPTV (e.g. PIP, Digital Program Insertion), which facilitates integration into existing broadcast ecosystems (e.g. DVB, ATSC). Features such as Capped Variable Bit-Rate (CVBR) further improve network efficiency while maintaining optimum video quality and leaving more bandwidth for Internet services on the access side.

Operators who don't use I-frame acceleration or other techniques to provide Instant Channel Change (ICC) will benefit from Harmonic encoders' constrained GOP length capabilities that allow faster channel change without jeopardizing picture quality.

The 1-RU Electra 8000 offers high-quality encoding of up to four channels in both SD and HD, enabling easy migration from SD to HD services.