TBS(Japan) Selects AVC/H.264 for HD SNG Video Encoding at All Affiliates: NTT Electronics´ AVC/H.264 Products to be Used

NTT Electronics Corporation (hereafter, NTT Electronics, Tomoyuki
Tojima, President, headquartered in Tokyo´s Shibuya Ward) provides
numerous high-quality broadcasting codec devices throughout the world

and has just entered into a purchase agreement with one of the largest
broadcasting networks in Japan, Tokyo Broadcasting System (hereafter

TBS, headquartered in Tokyo´s Minato Ward), for its AVC/H.264 encoders
(HVE9100) and decoders (HVD9100), which support both the HD and SD
formats.

In March of 2008, TBS has made an industry-leading decision to use
an HD SNG system that combines DVB-S2 and AVC/H.264, the operation of
which is slated to begin in December of this year. TBS is also aiming
for a complete HD conversion for the SNG systems in all of its (JNN)
affiliates by September of 2009. NTT Electronics´ HVE9100 and HVD9100
will be used at all 28 stations, affording HD AVC/H.264 for
high-quality and highly efficient contribution and content
distribution between the affiliates.

Mr. Yutaka Shibata, the Technology Development Director for the
Technology Division´s Broadcasting System Center at TBS, responsible
for selecting the needed codecs, had this to say: TBS´ involvement in
HD SNG was widely discussed by an internal review group, the Digital
Transmission Study Group. We did comparisons of codecs from several
companies, and we have finally chosen NTT Electronics´ HVE9100 and
HVD9100. The ability to have a minimal delay time on the order of
200msec and the ability to continue its use as we did with our MPEG-2
codecs were critical factor in our decision. We´re looking forward to
even more improvements in image quality.

Hisashi Kasahara, director of the Business Division at NTT
Electronics, offered this in response: The HD/SD dual-supporting
AVC/H.264 HVE9100 encoder and HVD9100 decoder that TBS has chosen
includes a newly developed IC that supports 4:2:2 chroma and realizes
the same minimal delay time (on the order of 200msec) as MPEG-2
devices for AVC/H.264 compression. Given the SNG environment that TBS
is using, we expect that our devices will be used in a wide variety of
ways. With support for a wide range of bit rates, the HVE9100 and
HVD9100, which enable high-quality and highly efficient image
compression for all possible uses, is truly the best match for their
needs. Given the work done by the image quality improvement team, that
got their start with the development of our MPEG-2 IC, NTT Electronics
remains committed to improve further image quality and continue
working on the better performance at low bit rates.

The HD/SD dual-supporting AVC/H.264 HVE9100 encoders and HVD9100
decoders that TBS has purchased, support both HD (1080p, 1080i and
720p) and SD (480i and 576i) and a maximum of two audio systems, for a
total of eight-channel encoding and decoding. And because they also
support the MPEG-2 format as well as AVC/H.264, their flexibility
really shines when handling a multitude of different compression
formats. Since arriving at the market in January of 2008, there has
been a great deal of interest in these products from customers the
world over, with many broadcasters planning to use AVC/H.264 codecs
for live HD coverage of the Beijing Summer Olympics this August. We
will continue to develop valuable solutions in the future as well.

In addition, NTT Electronics will display these products at
NAB2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center from April 14th through the
17th.

NTT Electronics Corporation

NTT Electronics is an industry leader for image compression
technologies. Our HD solutions are highly rated in markets from Japan
to the world at large. Our advanced technologies enable the
transmission, editing and broadcasting of high-quality images. For
more on NTT Electronics, please visit
http://www.nel-world.com/products/video/index.html.