DNA has commenced field tests of the second-generation digital cable transmission technology, in cooperation with its long-term technology partner Teleste. Future capacity-intensive services will benefit from DVB-C2 significantly, but no decision to deploy the new technology alongside the present DVB-C has yet been made by the company.

The present cable TV transmission technology is based on DVB-C. The new DVB-C2 technology allows highly efficient usage of digital cable capacity, and increases the performance of the network in the future, to comply with the new, increasingly bandwidth-intensive services.

Prior to field testing, DNA conducted DVB-C2 tests in its laboratory. Further testing will not affect cable TV transmission in DVB-C or customer devices in the home.

"At this stage, we want to ensure the performance of the technology in different network conditions. If we decide to deploy DVB-C2 the solution will be particularly suitable for capacity intensive services, such as HD channels and VOD services," said Kari Ruopsa, Head of Television Networks at DNA.

"3D HD channels, UHDTV and holographic television broadcasts are just some of the possible new services that use a lot of network capacity" he continued.

"Digital cable networks will remain the most cost-effective technology in the future, as well for transmitting video signals and internet data to homes. As a leading supplier of digital cable we are naturally involved in testing this new technology together with our customers. Such cooperation projects also provide us with valuable feedback on how new technologies will be taken into commercial use," said Hanno Narjus, Director of Video and Broadband Solutions of Teleste.

DNA Welho has the biggest channel offering in Finland and the largest number of HD channels both in cable and terrestrial networks. DNA Welho offers over 160 TV channels in cable, including over 30 HD channels.    

This year's ITU Telecom World 2012, is being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 14 - 18 October. The event is organized by the ITU and the United Nations specialized Agency for Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This year's event features a series of structured debate sessions and interactive workshops that will explore how new technologies, trends and innovations are radically transforming the ICT industry, impacting our lives, and creating major implications for policy, regulation and competitive strategies.

DVB's Executive Director, Dr Peter Siebert, will be joining Heads of State and Government Ministers, Heads of UN Agencies, Heads of Regulatory Authorities, Industry CEOs, thought pioneers and digital innovators from across the entire ICT ecosystem to share and foster understanding of the challenges and opportunities arising from the transforming ICT sector, and to promote actions to ensure that the world is connected in a universal, fair, open and secure way. Dr Siebert will be sharing his views in the "Dynamic Broadcasting Panel Session" which is to take place on Tuesday, 16 October at 10:30 - 12:00 local time.

DVB Member Sisvel has announced that it has been coordinating meetings among owners of patents essential to the DVB-C2 standard for the purpose of creating a patent pool to offer licenses under their combined portfolio of patents to make DVB-C2 technology accessible to all users on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms and conditions.

The companies participating in this effort are: DTVG Licensing, France Telecom, TDF, LG Electronics, and Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI). The patent owners have already agreed on a no usage fee for DVB-C2 transmissions and a royalty rate not exceeding 1 Euro per standard DVB-C2 receiver.  

The facilitation process remains open to other companies holding patents believed to be essential for the DVB-C2 standard, as defined by the standard documents ETSI EN 302 769. Candidate patents must be reviewed for essentiality by an independent evaluator.

DVB-C2 is the most advanced digital cable transmission system developed by the DVB Project. DVB-C2 uses state of the art coding and modulation techniques to achieve a substantial increase in capacity compared to legacy standards, thus enabling highly efficient use of cable networks.

Detailed information on patent submission and other procedures for participating in the facilitation process can be obtained from Sisvel by sending an email to DVB-C2@sisvel.com.

DVB in conjunction with the ABU and India's national broadcaster, Doordashan are holding a DVB-T2 Implementation Workshop. The event is aimed at India's TV broadcasters (and those planning to take up TV broadcasting) in general, and in particular those involved in the planning for implementing DVB-T2 technology. Participants will gain valuable knowledge on the successful implementation of a DVB-T2 network from DVB experts.

DVB-T2 is a rather complex subject and its complexity is enhanced when it comes to implementation. The event will empower those interested through a close look at the implementation issues of DVB-T2 technologies, the necessary choices to be made in terms of configuration and frequency planning, as well as the choices in terms of planning for equipment and the network.  Attendees will be able to equip themselves with enough information so that they can take informed decisions on the system / parameter configuration and implementation aspects of this technology that has been selected for take up in India.