Liquid Telecom, the leading independent data, voice and IP service provider in eastern, central and southern Africa has selected Harmonic, a leading video infrastructure provider to launch a fully managed service headend for a new direct-to-home (DTH) provider.
Liquid Telecom will utilize Harmonic's ProView 8100 IRDs for digital turnaround satellite reception. They will be integrated with Harmonic's Electra X2 advanced media processors for high-quality, low-bandwidth High Efficiency Video Coding(HEVC) encoding of SD and HD video content. Powered by the Harmonic PURE Compression Engine, the media processors support a wide range of video formats and codecs for satellite delivery, simplifying operations and future upgrades for the service provider. Harmonic said that the solution will enable the service provider to maximize bandwidth efficiency, improve video quality, and address future market demands for OTT multiscreen applications.
Scott Mumford, group managing executive, satellite and VSAT at Liquid Telecom
Harmonic's headend solution supports the latest video compression technologies, including MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC, as well as statistical multiplexing, allowing us to deliver superior video quality at low bit rates, with the flexibility to evolve via software upgrades.
Ian Graham, vice president of sales, EMEA, at Harmonic
This project will be the first major DTH HEVC headend for Harmonic. The use of the HEVC codec and, in particular, Electra X2 media processors will allow Liquid Telecom to make the best use of available bandwidth on its three transponders and deliver pristine video quality to customers in Africa.
