[Satellite TODAY 03-08-10] OSN, a DTH operator in the Middle East, is deploying Harmonic’s digital headend solutions to power OSN’s recently launched HD video service, Harmonic announced March 4.
   OSN selected Harmonic’s Electra 8000 multi-channel universal encoder to deliver the HD service as well as for an upgrade of its SD channel lineup from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4. As part of the network upgrade, OSN also implemented Harmonic’s ProStream 1000 stream processing platform for bulk scrambling and descrambling, and NMX Digital Service Manager to monitor and control the entire video service.
   “The bandwidth efficiency and outstanding video quality offered by Harmonic’s Electra 8000 platform enabled us to add new HD services in a bandwidth efficient way. The multi-codec capabilities and support for SD and HD services within a single encoder are also very attractive features that give us tremendous flexibility as we migrate our SD services from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4,” Mike Whittaker, vice president, broadcast operations and technology, OSN, said in a statement.