Joint MPEG-2 coding for multi-program broadcasting of pre-recorded video

We developed a cost-effective operational system suitable for digital TV, video on demand, and high definition TV broadcast over satellite networks with limited bandwidth. This MPEG-2 based system is easy to implement and allows the joint video coding of multiple video programs. Compared to present broadcast operations and for the same level of picture quality, our system greatly increases the number of video streams transmitted in each channel. As a result, either a large number of transponders can be freed up to carry real-time broadcasting or the level of the transmitted picture quality can be significantly increased, By switching from tape storage to video server technology, the need for numerous (expensive) playback VTR systems at the headend is eliminated. In addition, the majority of the complete MPEG-2 encoders are replaced by much less complex MPEG-2 transcoders. All this means significant savings for the broadcast stations. In addition to the gain in bandwidth and the reduction in cost, our system speeds up the encoding process by six fold.