Open Channel, a small Copenhagen based company, has started broadcasting 2nd generation terrestrial digital TV, DVB-T2, on UHF Channel 67 in the Greater Copenhagen area.
”We have definitely felt we have entered into a new territory with this set up. We have had to build our own transmitter to be able to start this, with innovative and affordable technologies from the Danish company ProTelevision Technologies and the Dutch company DekTec” commented Open Channel’s CEO, Kenneth Wenzel, in a statement.
ProTelevision Technologies, which develops and manufactures professional broadcast equipment for the global market, is pleased to participate in this DVB-T2 trial, where its DVB-T2 prepared platform PT2000 is used. “Our product is an industrial DVB-T2 modulator, offered in the form of a firmware upgrade. This means that our customers who already purchased our DVB-T2 prepared platform may upgrade their existing product to DVB-T2, “said John Ericsson, director of sales and marketing at ProTelevision Technologies.
”DekTec is pleased to see that its tool set has been instrumental to help Open Channel achieve rapid deployment of a DVB-T2 test transmission” added Nilesh Mandalia, VP sales at DekTec, a leading manufacturer of digital-video interface adapters for the professional broadcast market is a pioneer in the next generation DVB modulation with early commercial release of DVB-T2 technology to enable parts of the broadcast business adopt it quickly and affordably.
The background for the trials Open Channel is undertaking is that there is no room for HDTV on the DTT-net in Denmark, unless you move to the next generation terrestrial TV, which will provide double the broadcasting capacity compared to DVB-T.
”HD will within the next years be the new TV-standard, and it is therefore imperative that the DTT-net will have the needed capacity, so the TV-channels can be broadcast in HD. If these steps are not taken, the DTT-net will be left behind by the satellite and cable operators” according to Kenneth Wenzel.
In the initial phase the broadcasting is from a single antenna set up with 600 Watt ERP from 100 metres height (330 feet) from the TDC Tower on Borups Alle in the center of Copenhagen (the mux is known loclaly as MUXKBH-2), and the TV channels will be the same as the ones you can find on MUXKBH UHF channel 35, Kanal København, Familie TV and G-TV.
At the present time there are no DVB-T2 televisions or set top boxes on the Danish market, but they are expected to be in retail by the end of the year. At that time, Open Channel will expand the broadcast set up to include several broadcasting positions in Roskilde and/or Hillerød in a SFN net and the broadcasting capacity will be increased to 2 kWatt ERP.
