West Alabama TV Selects Inca Networks Modular MPEG-4 IPTV Transcoder For Their State-of-The-Art IP/QAM Hybrid Network
Vancouver, Canada (PRWEB) November 17, 2014 -- Inca Networks announced today that West Alabama TV Cable (WATVC) has selected the Inca 4400 Modular Series high-density video transcoder to power MPEG-4 HD and SD services for its advanced hybrid IP/QAM cable TV service. The cable company has also deployed Inca’s All Seeing Eye monitoring platform to provide centralized monitoring and management of all video streams in the head end.
West Alabama TV Cable (http://www.watvc.com), a cable company serving West Alabama, was put in the difficult predicament of finding an alternative content transport option after their previous provider discontinued satellite delivery operations, leaving them without a financially viable third-party option.
“We had a three week window to bring the reception and transcoding in-house before our existing service went dark. Our digital platform was MPEG-4 and we couldn’t afford to go back to MPEG-2, so the Inca solution allowed us to easily transition to self-reliant MPEG-4 transcoding. Inca’s platform and outstanding customer support allowed this process to happen smoothly, more economically, and with better performance than what we were operating before,” says Kyle South, General Manager at West Alabama TV Cable.
After multiple years using various third party transport services, some that were discontinued on short notice, West Alabama TV Cable chose to move all their content reception and transcoding in-house. This allowed the operator to protect their business, reduce costs, improve quality of service and take full advantage of their advanced IP/QAM hybrid network. The transition from third party transport to in-house operations was achieved without any material disruptions to subscribers. West Alabama TV is using Inca’s 4430 Modular Transcoders to process and monitor satellite and off-air channels and transcode them to MPEG-4, delivering superior video quality to their subscribers.
The hybrid IP/QAM network architecture at WATVC is one of the most advanced independent cable networks in the country. Powerful Entone set top boxes containing embedded cable modems provide both QAM video and full two-way IP services to the home. Feature rich Minerva IPTV middleware allows the operator to offer advanced program guide, navigation and interactivity features previously available only on IPTV networks.
“Inca has worked closely with multiple operators who have deployed this next generation hybrid IP/QAM architecture,” said Jeff Campbell, CEO, Inca Networks. “We believe that as the industry continues to transition to a more IP video centric model, this will become the norm and using our high-density MPEG-4 transcoding to fit more channels per QAM will become more and more critical.”
One of the key benefits that WATVC has seen with Inca is the improved visibility of all video channels that comes from the Inca VidiOS™ tools included in every Inca platform. Inca’s All Seeing Eye (http://www.incanetworks.com/products/inca-all-seeing-eye-5420/) leverages this VidiOS™ intelligence to create end-to-end, real-time monitoring of all the IP video streams in the headend. With the All Seeing Eye, the entire West Alabama team has the ability to visually and interactively oversee their network using any web browser, and to quickly troubleshoot any issues.
According to South, Inca’s solution is not only more user-friendly, but also is performing better than the platform that was previously implemented.
“We have been able to increase our HD capacity by 25 per cent. In fact, Inca helped us to convert our SD licenses to HD in a couple of days, giving us more capacity immediately. Inca’s customer service has really been amazing,” says South.
“Our strength is that we marry the convenience and simplicity of modular, scalable hardware with the agility, intuitiveness and control of our VidiOS™ software,” says Jeff Campbell, CEO of Inca Networks. “We are pleased to have helped WATVC become self-reliant and enhance their advanced IP/QAM service.”
VidiOS™ is Inca’s advanced processing and monitoring engine included in every Inca product which offers both active stream tools and integrated status monitoring and reporting to manage the head end more efficiently.
About West Alabama TV:
Established in 1964, West Alabama TV is a family owned cable company, offering television, high speed wired or wireless internet and telephone services. They were one of the first companies to offer enhanced HDTV service in the area and one of the first operators in the country to deploy a hybrid IP/QAM TV service, bringing IPTV capabilities to a traditional CATV network.
About Inca Networks
Inca Networks is reinventing the future of video delivery. Inca offers industry-leading Intelligent Video Delivery™, a revolutionary software-centric solution for intelligent, real-time processing of television content. At its core is VidiOS™, an advanced software processing and monitoring engine that provides deep visibility and control of all video flows, combined with powerful, modular hardware. Inca’s IP video solutions address all aspects of next-generation video, including high density MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 HD and SD transcoder modules for linear and multi-screen adaptive bit-rate and HLS streaming services; demuxing and remapping of MPTS video from satellite and off-air sources to SPTS streams in digital cable, DSL and fiber to the home (FTTH) IPTV networks; multi-viewer mosaic and status monitoring software, digital music service demuxing, and modular ASI to IP conversion. Video providers around the globe use Inca to deliver content—to any screen on any network—with the best view—where the customer’s viewing experience and the view of the network are second to none. http://www.incanetworks.com
For more information please contact Debra Hadden, Tel. +1-604-240-3196 haddencommunications(at)gmail(dot)com
Debra Hadden, Inca Networks, http://www.incanetworks.com, +1 604-240-3196, [email protected]
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