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By deploying BigBand Digital Simulcast cable operators can offer basic programming content to any subscriber while taking advantage of digital media processing and transport technologies. The broad functionality of BigBand Networks’ solution includes rich media processing with Rateshaping^®, digital ad insertion, GigE IP transport and QAM.

• Leverages digital technologies to improve video quality, content security, service reliability, transport costs, advertising profits and enable all-digital bandwidth savings
• Offers end-to-end digital simulcast functionality including MPEG, IP and Ethernet packet processing, digital ad splicing, GigE transport with CWDM or DWDM, and QAM
• Provides superior quality video with improved bandwidth efficiency, using multiple technologies including closed loop encoding and RateShaping^®
• Fully interoperates with all services in any network environment with ASI, DHEI, GigE, FastE and QAM/RF ports
• Features advanced ad insertion capabilities such as targeting to geographies zones or demographic groups
• Complies with SCTE 30 2001 and SCTE 35 2001 standards, and supports SCTE 30 to SCTE 35 conversion for GigE DPI
• Supports intuitive provisioning and performance monitoring with easy-to-use drag-and-drop GUI
• Provides EAS (Emergency Alert Systems) for Clear QAM TVs

BigBand Digital Simulcast offers significant capital and operating benefits. By converting analog programming to digital at the headend, and providing subscribers both the digital versions and original analog versions, a cable operator can converge its video transport to a single tier, resulting in significant operational savings. At the same time, an operator can deploy less costly and more secure all digital set-top boxes for new and changing subscribers and prepare for next generation digital service offerings. In addition, BigBand Digital Simulcast provides a migration path to analog reclamation and all-digital networking, with its bandwidth efficiency benefits.

Encoding analog content and transporting it digitally results in higher video quality, mainly because digital video signals can re-generated an unlimited number of times without degradation. The BigBand BMR^® (Broadband Multimedia-Service Router) is able to provide superior video quality at low bit rates by performing closed loop encoding typically in combination with an encoder, further enhancing the inherent efficiencies of digital transport.

Advertising profits benefit from the use of digital ad insertion, which is both streamlined and more economical than analog splicing. BigBand Networks offers the flexibility to centralize or distribute ad servers, or create a hybrid of both. In the case of a centralized topology, the BMR splices different ads into multiple copies of the same program and forwards them to specific geographic zones. Targeting by demographic profiles is also supported. Digital ad insertion complies with SCTE 30 2001 and SCTE 35 2001 standards.

BigBand Networks’ expertise in solutions design, installation, training, and technical support, enables an operator to deploy, operate and maintain BigBand Digital Simulcast solution with ease.

Digital simulcasting with digital ad insertion using BigBand platforms