Will DVB-T2 transform TV broadcasting
At the recently concluded ABU Digital Broadcasting Symposium 2011 in Kuala Lumpur industry experts discussed the roll that DVB-T2 will play in the global broadcasting landscape.
Also under discussion was the very successful results of a recent four day trial and workshop of DVB-T2 in KL earlier this year, during which two of the days were spent taking field measurements of the DVB-T2 signals strength and signal quality in and around the Malaysian capital. More than 120 participants from 16 countries joined the trial.
John Bigeni, DVB’s representative in Asia, said that DVB-T2 has already been adopted by more than 20 countries and will have profound impact worldwide on TV broadcasting; its efficiency gain cannot be ignored as it brings with it significant benefits to governments, broadcasters and consumers.
DVB-T2 provides 50% more usable bit rate than any other Digital Terrestrial Television standard including DVB-T; it can be used in existing DVB-T networks, allows transmitters further apart in a single frequency network and has an improved carrier to noise performance.
Main source: Asia Pacific Broadcasting April 2011
Item added: 18th April 2011
Consultancy assists DVB-T2 trial
Digital TV Labs, which provides independent, specialised conformance products and services for DVB-based markets, has deployed its DVB-T2 trial package for the recent test in Kuala Lumpa, Malaysia. Special DVB-T2 test streams were authored and RF measurements taken in the field to allow the selection of the most appropriate transmission parameters.
Source: Digital TV News.net
Item added: 4th April 2011
Telekom Malaysia to bid for DTT platform
Telekom Malaysia is seriously considering bidding to operate the country’s digital-terrestrial platform later this year according to a report on the Rapid TV News website.
The item goes on to say that the regulator, the Malaysian Commission (MCMC) will put the operation of the digital TV spectrum out to tender in the third quarter of the year.
The winning bidder will roll out and operate the digital-terrestrial network which will carry Malaysia’s free-to-air channels
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 12th May 2009
DTT tender expected before the end of 2009
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will call for DTT tender bids in the third quarter of 2009 using spectrum from 470-742 MHz.
The winner of the bid will have to build a single DTT infrastructure for all broadcasters to distribute their digital TV programmes.
If approved by the Government a beauty-contest type tender bid is envisaged and the winner would be announced at the end of 2009 or in early 2010.
Analogue switch off is planned to take place by the end of 2015.
Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) has been conducting DTT trials since September 2006.
Source: The Star Online
Item added: 7th April 2009
Government responds to DTT help request
Malaysia’s government may subsidise some of the cost of the countries digital transition according to a report on web based Rapid TV News.
It quotes the Information ministry secretary general Datuk Kamaruddin Siaraf as saying in response to calls from broadcaster Media Prima, for help with the cost of the transition, that if the ministry were to take the lead, “we may subsidise the bulk of it, which would be the cost of replacing the transmitters”
He went on to explain that there was a committee within the ministry that would oversee receiver production to ensure that units would be sold at minimal cost. The target cost at present is RM300 (US$80) and there are no plans for DTT receiver subsidies at present.
Source: Rapid TV News
Item added: 9th March 2009
RTM heads for digital
Malaysia's national broadcaster, RTM will broadcast 19 free-to-air television channels when it goes digital in three years, the New Straits Times reports.
The channels, which include some HDTV services, will screen 80% local content and producers have been told to fill 7,000 hours of airtime each month.
The national digital rollout will take place in 2012 with analogue switch off by 2015.
Trial digital transmissions to 1,000 homes began in the Kuala Lumpur area in September 2006.
Last year, RTM upgraded its five studios to produce live and recorded programmes in digital format
Source: Asia Pacific Broadcast Union
Item added: 9th February 2009
RTM trial a success
The DTT trial run by Radio Television Malaysia (RTM), was a success.
The trial which took six months from September 2006 to February, broadcast for five hours a day to the Klang Valley.
DTV programmes were tested on RTM1, RTM2 and RTMi.
Deputy Information Minister Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye said that 67 percent of the 892 viewers involved in the trial found the audio-visual quality of the DTV programmes to be of a high standard.
Some subscribers to the Astro Pay TV station, who also took part in the trial, said that the quality of the trial programmes were as good as those from Astro.
Chia said that RTM would be using terrestrial digital transmissions unlike Astro which comes from satellite.
The minister went on to say that the government would find ways to reduce the cost of set top boxes before it goes fully digital in 2015. One of those ways was to subsidies the cost of a box which is currently RM500/unit.
Source: Shelly Chong BERNAMA
Item added: 16th July 2007
Malaysia adopts DVB-T standard for digital broadcast transmissions
The Malaysian government has approved the adoption of the Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T) standard for broadcast transmissions, nearly a month ahead of the completion of its DVB-T trial in and around Kuala Lumpur.
Deputy Information Minister Chia Kwang Chye said the country decided to adopt the European standard for digital broadcasting since the initial response from the 1,000 households participating in the trial had been very positive.
We received very positive feedback about the DVB-T trial. Of the 1,000 households, more than 60 percent said the quality of the signal ranged from good to very good. Over 88 percent said the picture quality improved, while 70 percent said the sound quality was better.
These were all expected results, but we didn’t imagine the response to be overwhelmingly positive for the overall transmission, he said.
Speaking after addressing the ABU Digital TV Symposium 2007 in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Chia also said the country was expected to roll out digital transmissions in and around the capital in 2009 and eventually take it nationwide.
On High Definition (HD) TV, Mr Chia said the Malaysian governments Digital Task Force were also considering the implementation of the HD format in programming.
Source: ABU website
Item added: 28th March 2007
Malaysian DVB-T trial underway
The DVB-T trial in Malaysia was on air in mid November with one multiplex operating on UHF channel 44 using the 8k mode.
Five TV channels were available, RTM1, RTM2, RTMi and Muzik Aktif (a new video channel), all in 4:3 mode and an EPG was in operation. In addition seven radio programmes could be decoded.
The modulation being used for the transmission was 64QAM with a code rate of 2/3 and a guard interval of 1/4.
Source: correspondent
Item added: 6th January 2007
Malaysia to launch DVB-T trial soon
Additional details of the forthcoming DTT trial in Malaysia were posted on the ABU website recently.
Malaysia will launch a six-month trial of terrestrial digital transmission on 1 September this year at a cost of RM26 million (US$7.1 million), the country’s Deputy Information Minister, Chia Kwang Chye, has said.
Using the DVB-T standard, the trial will be conducted in Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas. Some 2,000 households have been selected for the pilot project, with half of them given set-top boxes to receive digital signals.
Participants of the trial will get to see three Radio Television Malaysia’s channels on digital transmission from 7pm to midnight daily, local time. Two of those are existing analogue channels, while the third is a new interactive channel.
Mr Chia said feedback on the digital signal would be gathered from the trial participants and compiled into a report. The report is to be submitted to the national Digital Task Force which will later make a decision on adopting the DVB-T standard
Source: ABU website
Item added: 22nd August 2006
Minister confirms Malaysian DTT trial
Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin confirmed on the 29th March that Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) would begin its digital television broadcasting trial run from September.
He said that the trial will continue for 6 months until February 2007 for five hours daily from 7pm to midnight.
During the trial, DTT will be broadcast on three channels, RTM1, RTM2 and a new channel to be introduced.
The trial will take place in the Klang valley, as previously reported and 1000 selected homes will be issued with a set top box dependant on fitting pre-defined viewer criteria.
Various tests and studies will be carried out during the DVB-T trial period including interactive services.
Source: Daily Express (Malaysia)
Item added: 11th April 2006
Previous
Malaysian Digital TV trial to start in September 2006
Malaysia will start its trial programme for digital television in September with an initial funding of RM75million.
Deputy Information minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai went on to say that the funding allocation would allow RTM to buy digital equipment for its transmission centre as well as the digital TV transmiter system.
The trial will start in the Klang valley under a one year pilot project and then expanded nationwide.
HDTV trials will also take place in 2009 according to the plan.
Analog services are expected to be closed in 2015.
Source: Malaysian National News Agency, BERNAMA
Item added: 18th January 2006
Malaysian digital TV trial program
Malaysia will launch a digital TV (DTV) trial program, in mid 2006, to pave the way for the national digitalisation drive, Malaysian Deputy Minister of Information Lim Siang Chai said on October 5th (2005).
Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) will lead the trial, which will cover 500,000 households in the capital Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding areas and last approximately 1 year.
The government will provide some families with one of the 2000 set-top boxes/digital receivers to conduct studies on viewer acceptance.
The government has proposed analogue shutdown in phases from 2008, finalising in 2015 when all analogue TV transmissions will have ceased.
Source: People's Daily Online
Item added: 18th October 2005
Malaysia announces DVB-T for its digital terrestrial TV trial
At the third Asean Digital Broadcasting (ADB) meeting, held on the 29th August in Brunei, Radio Television Malaysia announced that it had chosen DVB-T as the transmission standard for its forthcoming trial.
The main thrust of the meeting was to share knowledge and experience and also plan the transition to a common digital terrestrial television standard in the Asean region. More than 50 delegates from seven Asean countries attended the meeting namely Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines.
Source: Borneo Bulletin
Item added: 30th August 2005
Background
Malaysia has yet to formally announce its choice of a standard for DTTB. Indications are that DVB-T will be the choice but a formal decision is still pending.
According to the ABU Technical Committee, RTM intends to start digital transmission in 2004 in Klang Valley. This will be followed by regional stations in all states from 2005 to 2010. National coverage is expected by 2014.
The Multimedia Commission issued a discussion paper in April 2003 seeking industry feedback on DTTB coverage, service and the migration from analogue to digital. All comments had to be in by the end of June and the final report is still to be published.
Another study commissioned by the Government of Malaysia is nearing completion. Industry inputs from major players have included recommendations to adopt DVB-T with DVB-MHP as the choice for middleware.
Source DVB-Scene 08
More up to date information can be found at http://www.mcmc.gov.my
Of particular interest is the Papers section of the website where a slide presentation entitled "Discussion Paper on Concepts for the Introduction of Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcast (DTTB)"dated June 12th 2003 can be found.
DVB endeavour to ensure that the information provided on these pages is correct, but we are not able to guarantee its accuracy. If you have any additions or corrections please send them to dvb@dvb.org
Last page update: 18th April 2011, Barry Tew
