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NTL Broadcast
Windows Media 9 Series content is broadcast via digital radio and digital television networks
NTL Broadcast gave live demonstrations of radio and television content broadcast over digital terrestrial radio and digital terrestrial television networks encoded in Windows Media 9 Series.
NTL Broadcast  conducted a live demonstration of Windows Media 9 Series video and audio and its digital right management technology using digital terrestrial radio and television broadcast networks at IBC 2003 in Amsterdam.
The demonstration used both digital radio (DAB) and digital television (DVB) transmission coupled with an 802.11b wireless LAN local network.
 "We used Windows Media 9 Series for full motion video live at 120 Kbps over DAB. You could never do that on MPEG2. For applications using small screens, it provides very good quality," says Adriana Mattei, new product development manager at NTL Broadcast, Media Solutions. "The transmissions used 5.1 Surround Sound audio encoded in Windows Media 9 Audio Professional at 128 Kbps. We also used Windows Media Digital Rights Management for the first time, working with TANDBERG Television and DMDsecure."
The fully integrated content delivery and management system was based around a domestic or business ‘hub’ computer connecting to vehicle and handheld terminals by wireless LAN technology.
The combination of direct reception and ‘wi-fi synchronisation’ ensures that updated content stays with the consumer at all times, allowing new applications, new audiences, new business models and new revenue streams.
Live and stored content from Capital Radio and ITV in London, and British Eurosport at NTL's Langley studios, was encoded in the UK in Windows Media 9 Series, then transferred by satellite to Amsterdam using DVB and DAB transport streams. In the exhibition hall, the transmitted TV signal was used to deliver—and update—high-definition video with 5.1 surround sound to a ‘lounge’ area representing a domestic environment. A second, MPEG1 Layer II audio, stream was also received by PDAs and a car receiver. Re-transmitted DAB signals were received directly by a vehicle-based system and also by handheld PDAs equipped for digital radio; content could also be acquired automatically by the mobile terminals from the central hub via an 802.11 ‘wi-fi’ hotspot when the devices were within range.
Simon Mason, head of new product development at NTL Broadcast, explained: "This is just one example of a domestic application of this technology. We are interested in talking to potential partners who are looking for new channels to deliver their content to new and existing audiences in imaginative and cost effective ways. The system is equipped with Windows Media Digital Rights Management so that high value content is protected and accounted for. The data channels are there to be used and it's just a question of using the right medium in the right way for the right device. Increasingly, people are going to want to access content in a convenient form whenever it suits them; this approach allows them to do just that."
The IBC 2003 demonstration follows the huge success of sending Windows Media 9 Series encoded video over DAB shown at NAB 2003.
The demonstrations show that it is possible to deliver good quality real-time video content at low bit rates, as well as video files (such as movies and television programmes) at high definition, allowing the distribution of video and audio to a Windows XP PC and Pocket PC using DAB and DVB transmission standards. This demonstration also helps to open the door to many new content distribution scenarios to PCs, PDAs and mobile phones around the world.
Companies giving NTL their support and co-operation in mounting the demonstration included Microsoft, Capital Radio, British Eurosport, ITV News, Chrysalis Radio, TANDBERG Television, DMDsecure, Radioscape, MobileInvent, Ford and BMW.
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