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Elecard in cooperation with Supermicro and QuipPro has deployed a project enabling satellite broadcasting of more than 2 300 channels in 16 regions for one of the biggest Kazakhstan telco companies Almatel Kazakhstan, operating under the brand name Alma TV, which audience covers more than half a million users.
Modern IT industry is progressing at a fast pace and offers TV operators more advanced and convenient formats which might streamline the broadcasting process. However, when it comes to innovation, the most daunting challenge is to smoothly integrate new formats into the current broadcasting system which is most frequently equipped with devices supporting traditional MPEG-2 and AVC. Otherwise implementation of the next-generation technologies may cause great expenses.
Almatel Kazakhstan managed to successfully solve such challenge. In order to reduce expenses on channels delivery to different regions of Kazakhstan, it was decided to switch from terrestrial broadcasting to satellite. The company has installed the system for DVB-S2 broadcasting in HEVC (H.265) format using KazSat-2 satellite which made it possible to almost stop using terrestrial broadcasting providing significant cost savings. An important condition was to keep a large user audience of Alma TV and ensure smooth signal reception by end-users without high-cost replacement of their devices. To achieve trouble-free reception of HEVC media content it was necessary to launch a system aimed at transcoding of HEVC into MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats, which are supported by end-users equipment located in different regions.
Elecard offered a solution based on advanced transcoding platform Elecard CodecWorks and Supermicro server. Compact but extra powerful server MicroCloud (a server size is 3 units) powered by Elecard software provided high-density transcoding of the content delivered from a satellite. Such system enabled Almatel Kazakhstan to cut expenses on energy and space rent for server equipment and to minimize operational and maintenance activities.
“Elecard high-density transcoding solution based on Supermicro blade system allowed transcoding all required channels for each region by 3U servers. This made our solution energy and space efficient, with no visible quality loss. There were happy to experience significant cost savings ‘cause there was no need to replace end-user equipment the transcoded MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams were supported by more than half a million of end-user set-top boxes, as before. Implementation of the HEVC standard in the system reduced expenses on communication channels, - comments on Dmitry Basin, the Head of the Technical Support Department, Almatel Kazakhstan.
A transcoding system can be powered by monitoring probes designed for receiving timely objective information about the quality of input and output streams in a real-time mode, providing uninterrupted streaming and increasing users’ loyalty.
«An undeniable advantage of this solution is the possibility to integrate an advanced compression standard, save on bandwidth and keep previous-generation end-users receiving devices. Our solution is reliable, flexible and easily scalable if subscriber base grows . High-density transcoding allows saving on hardware. \Elecard specialists provide exclusive technical support at every stage of testing and implementation of the project. We do hope that success of this project inspires other TV operators to switch to satellite broadcasting with no complications and damage to their budget», - comments on Pavel Kiselev, Deputy Director on Business Development, Elecard.
About Elecard
Elecard (elecard.com) is a provider of video compression technologies (Linear, OTT, File based) as well as professional Analysis software and Embedded QoS/QoE probe technologies used to enable todays video ecosystem. Elecard supports: MPEG-2, AVC/H.264, HEVC/H.265, VPX, MPEG-Dash, HLS, AV1. Elecard Analysis tools, Encoder platforms and Codec SDK’s, enable system architects, designers and QA to shorten development cycles and improve time to market. Elecard is based in the United States, Canada, Russia and Vietnam.
About Almatel Kazakhstan
Almatel Kazakhstan (almatv.kz), operating under the brand name Alma TV, is the largest telecommunications company on the market of Kazakhstan with more than 20-years of experience and audience which covers more than half a million subscribers. The company provides all kinds of TV services and organizes retranslation of more than 150 channels all over the world, including 30 HD channels.
Almatel contact: T: +7 700 3000 501 - E: info[.]almatv.kz.
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