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Digital TV is Creating a New Product Category

The real-time broadcast MPEG encoder market is growing as new digital TV providers and TV channels are launched and HD content grows, according to a market study by In-Stat.

There is also a large shift taking place, as the H.264 codec standard is replacing MPEG-2 as the compression technology of choice in many of the segments, the high-tech market research firm says.

"The move to distribute programming in H.264 is creating a new category of product, the H.264 to MPEG-2 transcoder, which will be needed particularly by cable operators that have large installed bases of MPEG-2 set top boxes," says Michelle Abraham, In-Stat analyst.

The large number of cable head-ends will require large numbers of transcoders.

The In-Stat research covers the worldwide market for real-time broadcast MPEG encoders and transcoders. Worldwide unit, ASP, and revenue encoder and transcoder five-year forecasts are provided by region for eight market segments: contribution, distribution, telco, chassis, satellite, cable, terrestrial, and mobile. Profiles of major vendors are also included.

In-Stat's market study found the following:

- Contribution and distribution segments, though lagging behind redistribution in use of H.264, are moving to use the newer compression scheme.

- The MPEG encoder and transcoder market will reach 44,000 units in 2011.

- The silicon TAM for real-time broadcast MPEG encoders will reach a height of $134 million in 2008.

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