Mobile TV operators use state-of-the-art encoding technologies - DVB-H with H.264 video, HE AAC audio and statistical multiplex - reducing transmission bandwidth and cost.
Further cost savings now become possible by minimizing the amount of hardware in a DVB-H playout system. The Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut has developed encoders, utilizing latest IT technologies (multi-core processors), providing up to eight services running on a single machine. IP-based input of MPEG-2 encoded streams is the key for feeding multiple programs onto a single machine making costly grabber hardware obsolete. Within IBC 2008 a compact encoder system with M+N redundancy and seamless IP based switching for failover is demonstrated.

The Multicore SVC Realtime Encoder produces the bitstream in one single encoding process. The base layer bitstream is backward compatible to H.264. The partial decoding of the scalable bitstream allows: Graceful degradation when parts of the bitstream get lost and Bit rate, format and power adaptation.