On Digital Media (ODM) has deployed Harmonic’s digital video head-end solutions to power its new TopTV pay TV service in South Africa.
    The head-end system includes Harmonic’s Electra 5400 MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) multi-channel encoders and the ProStream 1000 stream processing platform with DiviTrackIP statistical multiplexing
    TopTV’s channels are sent over IP via Seacom’s undersea fiber optic cable and are received at TopTV’s teleport in Germany where they are multiplexed with the remaining channels on another Harmonic headend system. The complete 52-channel line-up is then uplinked to the SES World Skies’ Sirius 4 Ku-band satellite over Africa and delivered to the consumer via a compact set-top box.
    “The advanced capabilities of Harmonic’s integrated IP-based headend technologies allowed us to efficiently and quickly launch the new TopTV service. In addition, Harmonic’s compression and stream processing solution provides a superior quality viewing experience for our subscribers,” ODM COO Frans Lindeque said in a statement.