Advanced Digital Broadcast Provides Digital-TV Technology For First MHP Broadcast Trial In Poland

Advanced Digital Broadcast is providing i-CAN MHP set-top boxes and its proprietary interactive head-end platform, i-BROADCASTER, for Polish operator TP EmiTels DVB-T transmission tests in Warsaw.

Wednesday, October 9, 2002 -- Geneva: Advanced Digital Broadcast (www.adbglobal.com), a global vendor of equipment, software and services for digital television is providing its i-CAN MHP set-top boxes and its proprietary interactive head-end platform, i-BROADCASTER, for Polish operator TP EmiTels DVB-T transmission tests in Warsaw. TP EmiTel, a subsidiary of Telekomunikacja Polska S.A., began its preliminary assessment in November 2001. Supervised by the Polish National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT), the trial will determine the multiplex parameters of digital terrestrial TV in Poland. The test is being carried out in a single multiplex, which distributes state controlled channels TVP1 and TVP2, and commercial channels Polsat and TVN. Further trials are planned for the cities of Lodz and Poznan. By using digital TV technology from ADB, the Warsaw trial will be able to assess both the reception of the digital terrestrial signal in consumer equipment, and the acceptance by Polish viewers of the new technology, which offers interactive TV applications such as EPG, opinion polls, quizzes and educational programs. ADBs i-CAN debuts this autumn in Finland and Switzerland as the worlds first mass-volume MHP-ready decoder. Designed and developed by ADB Polska engineers at the companys design engineering facilities in Zielona Gora and Katowice, Poland, i-CAN is targeted to DVB MHP 1.0.2 Enhanced and Interactive Broadcast profiles. Built on ADBs tradition of premium quality software and cost-effective hardware design, i-CAN is based on STMicroelectronics OMEGA digital-TV processor, and has a memory footprint of 32MB DRAM and 4MB Flash. It provides an open standard platform featuring DVB-Common Interface, V.90 modem and Dolby Digital.The i-CAN set-top boxes are being supplied along with ADBs i-BROADCASTER interactive head-end system. i-BROADCASTER is a network distributed (LAN) framework that allows a cost-effective and flexible head-end configuration for broadcasting interactive applications and network services. Characterized by a centralized system management and storage, its functionality is distributed in independent modules sharing unified communication protocols. Digital televisions advantages include improved transmission quality, flexibility, an increased number of channels, interactivity, and more effective spectrum use," says Krzysztof Lemiech, head of the Polish DVB Forums technical team, and coordinator of the tests. I am very impressed that ADB, which sources its engineering talent here in Poland, can provide state-of-the-art digital technology that works completely effectively with traditional analogue TV sets, and makes the nationwide migration to digital TV a highly successful one for both viewers and operators." These tests are the first live MHP broadcast in Poland," says Mariusz Walkowiak, ADBs Zielona Gora-based VP, Product Management Group. We are very proud that our i-CAN set-top boxes and i-BROADCASTER head end system are used in this trial. It gives ADB engineers a perfect own-home-ground opportunity to monitor their seamless operation in a DVB-T environment."

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About ADB
Advanced Digital Broadcast is a major supplier of digital set-top boxes and software solutions for digital interactive television. Since releasing its first unit in the summer of 1997, ADB has shipped over two million set-tops to customers in 15 countries ADB employs some 300 staff in offices in Switzerland, Australia, Poland, Spain, in the Philippines, Canada, the United States, and in Taiwan (where the company's Corporate Headquarters is located). Of this total staff, more than 195 work as development engineers, principally in the company's Software Engineering facility in Zielona Gora, western Poland, in Manila, and in ADB's Advanced Interactive Application Development Center in Sydney, Australia.

About TP EmiTel
TPEmiTel, a subsidiary of the national telco Telekomunikacja Polska S.A, provides services related both to terrestrial broadcasting of radio and television programmes, and to the maintenance of technical infrastructure for companies operating in the telecommunications industry.TP EmiTel utilizes a highly advanced network of transmitting and retransmitting stations located throughout Poland, and employs highly qualified professional engineers and technicians in branch offices situated all over the country.