Broadcast International announces 3 Mbps HD Video

Broadcast International claims that video encoders built on its CodecSys Video Compression Software and multi-core processors, enable HDTV broadcasts to be delivered at 3 Mbps or less on 90% of PCs and 300 million mobile devices.

This would represent substantial cost savings by reducing the bandwidth required for satellite, cable TV and mobile TV by over 80%.

The company hopes that further development of the technology will enable the delivery of HDTV at 1.5 Mbps, compared with the currently used codec which requires 19.4 Mbps to deliver HDTV.

At 1.5Mbps, it would be possible to send real time video files across the public internet, and possibly even live TV.

Broadcast International’s patented CodecSys software switches between multiple expert codecs rather than relying on single, general-purpose codecs.

Rod Tiede, the CEO of Broadcast International explained the system in an interview with Faultline, The Journal of Quadruple Play Economics.

“We use more than one codec…but we use them in a single encoder. Each is good at something in particular, like dark or bright scenes, or slow-motion or fast motion scenes. The system takes a look at the outputs and selects the one that uses least bandwidth and then recombines the outputs. It then checks the final scenes to see how a human eye would perceive it and makes sure the video is of high enough quality,” said Tiede.

The switching process is implemented in software, therefore the encoder can be upgraded to be compatible with new compression standards and codecs as they are introduced.