DPCM Bit-Rate Reduction for Component TV Signals at ENG Levels

Electronic news gathering (ENG) is used extensively by broadcasters to obtain the material for their news programs. Because of the time constraints, ENG increasingly relies on satellite and common carrier facilities to carry video and audio signals from remote locations to the main TV studio. Due to the ongoing digitization of the telecommunication links and eventually of the main station as well as of the ENG recorder itself, it is of prime interest to the broadcaster to study the mechanics of bit-rate reduction for the digital video signal at ENG quality levels. Our study presents a complete digital ENG concept, based on differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) techniques permitting the use of links in the DS-3 hierarchy level (44.736 Mbits/sec). On-site recorded news could be transmitted to the main station not only with very short delays but also in a very flexible manner. Several DPCM encoding schemes are investigated to compress the 2:1:1 digital video signal to the desired link capacity. The following parameters are also taken into consideration: error characteristics of the various transmission links, error correction, and portability of the equipment.

Print ISSN

0036-1682

Published

1989-05

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J02757