The cost of video streaming for broadcast and computer systems is reaching its steepest downward curve, yet users of the technology have yet to recognise this fact. Digital video company GIT says that it has found resistance from local broadcasters to lower cost technology, as they perceive it to be of inferior quality. "Broadcasters believe that if it doesn`t cost a million, the technology can`t possibly work, whereas PC users reject any pricing above R5000," says Mark Chertkow, MD of GIT.
"Broadcasting and computing are experiencing true convergence of digital video - the ability to mix high quality media at a fraction of what it cost two years ago."
Chertkow maintains that local broadcasters need to make a serious mindshift away from the "expensive is good" premise, and accept that top quality can be had from "lower-cost" equipment. GIT is the distributor locally of digital video technology for both broadcasting and computer based video networking. "Digital video has reached open systems maturity, but take-up is slow because it will mean that professionals will have to move out of their comfort zone - in this case broadcasters take comfort in running their systems on a proprietary platform, therefore justifying the expense.
Computer users, however, are accustomed to open platforms, but they need to accept that quality/reliable digital video is still costly relative to other applications.
"Because broadcast and computing technology is converging, one finds that the base decoding and encoding chips are the same, with a very small differential. Internationally we are seeing broadcasters using MPEG video encoded on a PC. The quality is as good, if not better, than that of conventional broadcast systems and the cost is fractional."
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