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Quicklink, Inmarsat secure ESA contract to demonstrate HEVC

HEVC technology expected to almost double quality of current H.264 mobile encoders

Quicklink Video Distribution Services has announced that it will be undertaking a demonstration project of a custom mobile broadcast encoder utilising the latest high-efficiency video codec (HEVC) technology.

This multimillion-dollar demonstration contract supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) invites key broadcasters Aljazeera, BBC, BSKyB, TV2 Denmark and TVI Portugal to evaluate and provide valuable user feedback of the equipment in field use.

The new BGAN HDR and GX networks from Inmarsat are an important part of this project, where all the key demonstration users will have the opportunity during the project time frame to evaluate the HEVC technology whilst broadcasting on the higher throughput satellite networks.

The project also includes Global Navigation Satellite Systems to provide geo-tagged metadata to broadcasters to provide optional position location, in addition to non–satellite connectivity to provide dynamic video transmission via ADSL, Wi-Fi, 3G and LTE.

The HEVC technology proposes to provide almost double the quality of current H.264 mobile encoders.