For Immediate Release
Denver, Colorado –
February 10th, 2011 Download PDF
WooshCom Announces MPEG NULL Packet for for
bandwidth optimization
WooshCom® Corporation, a small innovative company having a big impact on the
Cable TV industry, today announced a very unique product intended to alleviate
bandwidth issues with MPEG video in headends and on fiber interconnects between
facilities.
WooshCom’s
MPA-1212, a one-of-a-kind miniature MPEG NULL Packet Filter, will remove
unnecessary MPEG Null packets which are being flooded onto ASI interconnects
within a headend by Satellite receivers. Once present, these packets can
continue to unnecessarily consume bandwidth as they propagating outside the
headend onto gigabit Ethernet fiber interconnects.
Many Single Program Transport Stream (SPTS) satellite receivers embed the
desired video program in a deluge of MPEG-2 Null packets. “Typical numbers we
are seeing are a 4Mbps standard definition (SD) video stream being embedded in a
54 Mbps torrent of data, but on some receivers this deluge is as high as 155
Mbps. It is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.” said Mr. Marler,
WooshCom’s CTO and Founder.
If the MPEG stream from SPTS receivers is immediately converted to IP data and
is fed onto a LAN or a fiber network, the UDP/IP packets from that point on can
permanently clog up the network. These streams that are short on payload and
high on null packets unnecessarily increase the load on all the networking
equipment of all downstream networks, which can artificially inflate fiber link
capacity requirements. If the fiber is being leased, the operator may be buying
more capacity than necessary.
In a typical cable TV headend the stream is sent straight to a modulator, an
MPEG-2 remultiplexer or onto an IP data network perhaps for fiber distribution.
Today’s generation of MPEG headend equipment is CPU based and hence they cannot
distinguish between an MPEG NULL packet and an MPEG Information packet without
executing those software routines designed to do that. “This needlessly consumes
CPU processing power on these expensive devices taking that power away from the
more significant functions that the devices were purchased to perform like
multiplexing, rate shaping or rate capping.” says Mr. Marler.
Some re-multiplexers & transcoders have limits on their ingest-rates in the 450
to 600 Mbps range that cannot be exceeded without bringing down the services.
“While this may sound like a large number, it is quickly exceeded if it is fed
by SD video streams, each of which is embedded in 54Mbps. Just 9 to 11 such
feeds will cause these ingest rates to be exceeded and customer services to be
interrupted.” says Mr. Marler.
WooshCom’s MPA-1212 Null packet filter has proprietary algorithms which
automatically remove unnecessary NULL packets thereby yielding a constant bit
rate transport stream even if the video content is variable bit rate in nature.
The MPA-1212 is DVB-ASI based with one input, one loop-thru output, and two
mirrored filtered outputs and hence additionally performs the function of an ASI
distribution amplifier.
The miniature form factor allows the MPA-1212 to be placed directly behind the
offending receiver without taking up any rack space. More information can be
seen at www.WooshCom.com, where a data sheet may be requested.
About WooshCom®
WooshCom® Corporation provides innovative products to make the management and
manipulation of MPEG transport streams flexible and seamless. WooshCom® has
been supplying such solutions to the cable television industry since 2002.
WooshCom® , a privately held firm, is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, and can
be found on the web at
www.WooshCom.com.
© 2011 WooshCom® Corporation
