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Appear TV was founded by nine Tandberg engineers who left in 2004 to develop products to enable cable TV operators to send video over a wireless or fixed IP network, with the stated aim of becoming the world leader in Professional Video over IP solutions. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, the company now employs over 60 staff hand-picked from 17 countries, in addition to its outsourced production facilities, with installations in more than 80 countries across five continents.

At the centre of the company’s product range are head-end solutions that are designed according to Appear TV’s modular philosophy, with the aim of providing maximum flexibility and high density. Appear TV head-ends are deployed globally at cable, fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), broadband/ADSL, satellite and terrestrial operators as well as by corporates, government agencies and NGOs.

History
In the late 1990s, cable TV operators added broadband internet connectivity and telephony to their analogue TV services in an attempt to increase subscriber numbers and revenues per subscriber, competing directly with the incumbent telcos. Following investment in fiber optic IP core networks and digital head-ends, cable networks have since evolved to provide digital TV services, putting them in a position to also challenge the dominance of satellite broadcasters by offering not only more broadcast services and higher quality HD TV channels, but also new revenue generating services such as VoD and games.

However despite the shift to digital, Appear TV recognised that converting cable subscribers and their televisions would not happen overnight. In a typical family household it may only be convenient to digitally enable the main television, whilst many cable households may be reluctant to switch at all. To maintain subscriber numbers, operators would be required to simulcast analogue broadcast television services in parallel with digital services for many years to come.

This requires the delivery of numerous services over the cable operator's core IP network to potentially a multitude of consumer devices, connected by different fixed or wireless networks. Bandwidth-efficient delivery of these services is of primary importance, along with flexible content management and billing systems.

Appear TV tackled the problem by developing the DC1000 carrier-class head-end, which transforms digital services into analogue formats, allowing cable TV operators to use existing cable networks and so bridge the gap between IP and cable networks. This ensures that the core network is utilised efficiently, as only a single, digital copy of broadcast services is required to be transmitted over the core network.

In addition, the installation of an analogue simulcast solution at the local head-end gives cable TV operators local control over television services, as it enables local selection of available services and broadcast frequencies, and maintains high quality RF signals.

With a single management interface giving intuitive access for configuration and monitoring plus redundancy options and hot-swapping features, the DC1000 is claimed to facilitate smooth operation and maintenance during the transition period, while its high density modular architecture is readily scalable for future growth. This allows the life of the head-end to be extended, as new functionality can be rolled-out months or even years after the initial head-end deployment.

Local control
There are a number of other advantages in deploying a decoder and RF modulation system at the local network to deliver services. Whether these are television services, voice over IP (VOIP), mobile telephony or data traffic, all are carried by a single network infrastructure, ensuring the most effective use of the digital network’s capacity.

The operator therefore becomes agnostic towards the last mile network technology, as the digital head-end and core network operations remain the same irrespective of whether a subscriber is connected by a FTTH network, a DSL network, digital cable or analogue cable. Adaptations to the last mile technology are simply made at the local network site.

Having a local decoder and RF modulation system also enables local control over the analogue channel package, and offers the possibility of adding additional channels from sources other than the core network, including community channels from DVB-T feeds or local interest programs for broadcast in certain timeslots. The local proximity also results in noticeable improvements in video and audio quality compared with remote modulation systems, along with more flexible channel frequency allocations.

An analogue simulcast system located at the local network contains a number of distinct functions. Channels are received from the core network with an appropriate interface (IP, QPSK, ASI or COFDM), descrambled, decoded into an analogue format, the audio modulated to A2/NICAM if required, and finally the video is modulated with upconversion to the required VHF/UHF frequency. Channels are then presented to a combiner for distribution over the local cable network.

As a high density IRD with integrated RF modulation carrier-class head-end developed specifically for analogue simulcast applications, Appear TV’s DC1000 is claimed to deliver a complete analogue simulcast solution within a standard 4RU chassis. A single DC1000 can decode, decrypt and convert up to 16 analogue channels, a compact arrangement bringing direct savings in power consumption, cooling, logistics and system complexity.

Using different input modules, a variety of input streams can be presented including DVB-S/DVB-S2, DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-C and ASI, enabling flexible content sourcing tailored to each local community. Conditional Access (CA) modules enable decryption of channels encrypted with multiple CA systems in the same chassis. Various output modules enable presentation of channels in baseband or RF, with A2 or NICAM sound options.

The DC1000 is also claimed to offer higher reliability than component-based solutions, with each chassis featuring a redundant forced air cooling system and available with dual hot-swap 300W power supplies. Decoder modules are hot swappable and automatically reconfigured upon replacement. Full input redundancy is supported. Each chassis can be configured with a combination of TV modulators and radio modulators for a tailor-made solution to needs at each regional site.

The digital core network
Ultimately cable operators will evolve their networks to fully digital operation, and the first step in this transition is a digital core network, usually built around high-capacity Gigabit Ethernet routers over optical fibre, although Packet-over-SONET/SDH (PoS) is also used.

To address this market, Appear TV has developed the SC2000/SC2100 series multiple input IP streamer for streaming services over IP-based infrastructure such as a Fibre To The Home IPTV networks, and the MC3000/MC3100 multiplexer and cable head-end to enable operators to create content packages with optimum utilization of cable infrastructure.


 * The SC2000/SC2100 IP Streamer is a Carrier Grade 'Head-End in a Box' for professional operators that removes the need for multiple boxes for reception, descrambling, scrambling and streaming, reducing both capital and operational expenditure. With a Gigabit Ethernet capacity and capability to handle all signal processing from reception to IP streaming internally, the SC2000/SC2100 is suitable for all cable and broadband operators where IP networks are used to distribute services.


 * The MC3000/MC3100 series Carrier Grade multiplexer offers a high performance QAM output module for direct insertion of digital services into the cable network, once again providing Gigabit Ethernet capacity, with all signal processing handled internally. Based on a full digital-modulation and upconversion architecture, the QAM Output module is claimed to deliver a clearer signal while simplifying future upgrades easier, and can be configured both as a central or remote head-end, and for contribution and regional adaptation applications.

At each local network site, streaming video services are adapted for re-transmission over each specific network, using QAM modulators for transmission over coax network to digital DVB cable STBs, and DSLAM modulators for transmission over the telephone network to IP STBs. Where Cat5 or Fiber to the Home (FTTH) is laid, Ethernet switches convert the signal from fiber to a copper connection for the IP STB.

The company's approach to these varying requirements is to design and build chassis-based systems with an extensive range of plug-in modules such as multi-input, multi-output, conditional access scrambling and de-scrambling, and audio-level control cards to increase the flexibility and functionality of Appear TV head-ends. This allows operators to add new services or functionality to their existing investment, while offering precise control over all video services using a common platform through a single management interface, so reducing integration issues to a minimum.

By integrating all functions into a single chassis, Appear TV is able to present a single graphical user interface for all modules with a web-based management interface facilitating easy remote configuration of all parameters plus system performance and alarm monitoring for rapid identification and correction of faults.

Appear TV Universal Distribution Head-end
At this year's NAB Show in Las Vegas, the company launched the Appear TV Universal Distribution Head-end, which is capable of taking any input and providing any output, and may be deployed for contribution and distribution, transport to the end-user and can be situated centrally or at the network edge. Incorporating encoding for the first time, this ‘anything to anything’ functionality is critically important as broadcast architectures gain in complexity, and represents the final piece in the Appear TV head-end jigsaw.

Appear TV claims the development makes it the first company able to provide customers with high density head-ends that can handle all the functionality required for distribution over cable, IP, satellite and terrestrial networks. For instance a satellite operator will now have all the functionality required to handle a complete satellite uplink with a number of transponders from one single unit. With other vendors this would take a complete rack of equipment and additionally require a management system to provide equivalent functionality, says the company.

The system is targeted at network operators and all other organisations that transport, handle and market high-quality video, including rights holders, broadcasters, IP, cable, DTT and Fibre network operators,the hospitality industry (such as airlines, cruise ships and hotel chains), corporates and governmental organisations. The first deployments are expected to be made in the second half of 2011 before September's IBC Show in Amsterdam.

Future trends
The company claims that all of its systems have been designed to meet market trends for an increased number of channels, higher content availability, the maturing of HD TV, and ultimately growth in 3D TV technology. The modular approach also allows rapid technical upgrading to permit the reception of services across multiple digital networks as opposed to analogue, and the transition to hybrid access networks capable of addressing cable, xDSL, FTTH (IPTV) and mobile broadband platforms.

Awards

 * Intelligent redundancy software - CABSAT’s Dr Dish Award for IP Output Redundancy Solution, 2008


 * Balancing audio levels of up to 250 TV channels - IBC IABM Innovation Award for Audio Leveling, 2009