SENCORE's New Receiver Decoder Approved by BCE for ENEX

According to ENEX, the next-generation of the SENCORE MRD distinguished itself in comprehensive, biannual evaluations for overall ease of use, signal quality, robustness, and interoperability with a variety of encoders and equipment. As a result, ENEX will recommend the device for SNG use by some 35 member stations located throughout Europe, as well as in the U.S. and Japan.

"SNG is a particularly challenging technical environment, requiring intermittent satellite reception and transmission and, more often than not, versatile interoperation with other systems and legacy equipment," said Jean Lampach, chief technology and development officer for Broadcasting Center Europe, which performed the evaluations for ENEX. "We evaluated dozens of devices in multiple categories, selecting for recommendation only those few that stood up to the rigors of the tough environment, including SENCORE's MRD receiver decoder."

To determine its recommendations, Lampach and other members of the BCE organization spent two weeks performing a battery of tests using 37 individually evaluated content clips. As much as possible, BCE used real-world SNG conditions that included actual satellite transmission and reception to determine the devices' reliability, everyday ease of use, compatibility, functionality, and effectiveness.

"Our MRD3187B combines dual-channel processing capability with MPEG-2, MPEG-4, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, SD, and HD decoding, making it flexible enough to support even the toughest SNG applications," said Thomas Stingley, executive vice president of sales and marketing at SENCORE. "With its highly adaptable modular architecture and field upgradable hardware and software, the device more than proves itself in intensive fast-changing broadcast, cable, and satellite news gathering situations. The rigorous testing performed by ENEX gave our receiver decoder a chance to show its stuff, and that is exactly what it did."

ENEX was founded in 1994 to share satellite transmission and other resources in support of cost-effective news delivery. Today ENEX facilitates the exchange of news images and operates joint technical infrastructure including a satellite transponder for some 35 members including 1+1, Ukraine; Alpha TV ANTENNA, Greece; CBS News, U.S.; Channel 2, Israel; M6, France; Markiza, Slovakia; MTV3, Finland; NOVA, Czech Republic, and NTV, Russia.

The versatile SENCORE MRD3187B receiver decoder sets the standard for performance, functionality, and cost of ownership for any contribution, distribution, or backhaul environment including SNG use. Advanced features include SCTE-35-104 message conversion for commercial insertion applications, DVB-Common Interface for conditional access decryption, and multiservice descrambling. In addition, the device supports DVB-S and DVB-S2 demodulation, as well as VCM support, 16-ASPK demodulation, and multiple transport stream selection via an Input Stream Identifier (ISI).

About ENEX

To respond to the growing but costly need for satellite transmissions from trouble spots on earth, the TV stations of the RTL Group (formerly CLT-UFA) in 1994 founded ENEX (European News Exchange), a nonprofit organization. Today, ENEX facilitates the exchange of news images and operates joint technical equipment for its members, including a satellite transponder. ENEX member stations include 1+1, Ukraine; Alpha TV ANTENNA, Greece; CBS News, USA; Channel 2, Israel; M6, France; Markiza, Slovakia; MTV3, Finland; NOVA, Czech Rep.; NTV, Russia; NTV, Turkey; PRO BG, Bulgaria; PROTV, Romania; RTL Klub, Hungary; RTL, Luxembourg; RTL Televizija, Croatia; RTL TV, Germany; RTL TVI, Belgium; RTL4, The Netherlands; Servus TV, Austria; SIC, Portugal; SKY News, U.K.; SKY TG24, Italy; TBS, Japan; TELE5, Spain; TELESUD TV2, Denmark; TV2, Norway; TV3, Ireland; TV4, Sweden; TVN, Poland; and VTM, Belgium.

About SENCORE

SENCORE is an engineering leader in the development of high-quality signal transmission solutions for the broadcast, cable, satellite, IPTV, telecommunications, and professional audio/video markets. The company's world-class portfolio includes video delivery products, system monitoring and analysis solutions, and test and measurement equipment, all designed to support system interoperability and backed by best-in-class customer support. SENCORE meets the rapidly changing needs of modern media by ensuring the efficient delivery of high-quality video from the source to the home. More information is available at