Launch of DVB-T2

World’s Most Advanced DTT System Provides Extra Capacity For Multichannel HDTV & Other Services

AMSTERDAM — IBC 2008 sees the official launch of the latest addition to the DVB family of open standards, DVB-T2 – a second generation transmission system for digital terrestrial television. The specification is the result of the co-operation of more that 60 DVB member organisations that actively contributed to create the most advanced DTT system based on carefully considered commercial requirements that include an increase in capacity and improved robustness.

The specification introduces the latest modulation and coding techniques to enable the highly efficient use of valuable terrestrial spectrum for the delivery of audio, video and data services to fixed, portable and mobile devices.

Building on the foundations of the successful DVB-T system, DVB-T2 promises a 30% to 50% increase in capacity in equivalent reception conditions. Broadcasters deploying DVB-T2 will be able to roll out new multiplexes that could offer multichannel HDTV services and create innovative new datacasting opportunities.

“DVB-T2 takes advantage of the latest technological developments to reach theoretical performance limits for digital terrestrial broadcasting,” said Peter MacAvock, Executive Director, DVB. “With the launch of DVB-T2, DVB remains at the vanguard of DTV technology with a family of open standards that forms the basis of the majority of the world’s digital broadcasting systems”.

In line with DVB Project’s aim to provide a coherent body of standards, DVB-T2 uses OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplex) modulation to deliver a robust signal and offers a range of different modes making it highly flexible. It employs the same LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) error correcting codes used in DVB-S2 for excellent performance in the presence of high noise levels and interference. A significant number of highly innovative features such as Physical Layer Pipes, support of Multiple-Input-Single-Output (MISO) and Rotated Constellations are also included. DVB-T2 has been defined so that the standard can be enhanced in the future in a backwards compatible manner through the use of Future Extension Frames.

The specification is currently with ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) for formal standardisation and has been published on DVB’s website as BlueBook A122.

Vendors are already working on the development of DVB-T2 equipment and some of the first prototypes are being demonstrated at this year’s IBC exhibition in Amsterdam on the DVB stand (1.D81).

The official IBC conference programme features a session “Open standards, technology and implementation – in association with DVB” which will include an introduction to DVB-T2 on Monday 15 September.

More: DVB-T2 Arrives at IBC