Complexity of Digital Video Delivery Drives Demand for Advanced Integrated Receiver-Decoders

Mountain View, Calif. - Digital transmission is gradually nudging out analog transmission, hiking demand for digital equipment and thereby advanced integrated receiver-decoders (IRDs). While the United States has already made rapid strides in digitization, Asia and Europe are playing catch-up. With all countries in different stages of digital adoption and demand for video growing across all media, there is a score of opportunities for IRD vendors to provide distinct products for multiple video delivery needs.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.digitalmedia.frost.com), World Integrated Receiver-Decoder Market, finds that the market earned more than $260 million in revenues in 2007 and estimates this to double by 2014.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview of the world integrated receiver-decoder market, then send an e-mail to Mireya Castilla, Corporate Communications, at mireya.castilla@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.

Globally, there are a number of transmission systems including ATSC, DVB-T, ISDB-T, and DMB-T.

“Apart from the numerous formats, the penetration of digital TV services through cable, satellite, and telco networks also introduces the complexity of distributing content in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 in standard definition (SD) or high definition (HD),” says Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst Vidya S. Nath. “Also, as Internet and mobile video become ubiquitous, content providers and service operators will have to distribute content in a plethora of formats compatible with the consumer needs.”

To achieve this, broadcasters and service operators will be required to invest in encoding and decoding appliances that can enable video delivery via multiple media in diverse formats. This has led to increased investments in developing multi-format IRDs.

“Meanwhile, vendors have cashed in on HD’s popularity and introduced several products for the high-end professional contribution category and HD distribution,” notes Nath. “They are also offering advanced products with integrated features to support newer applications such as web and mobile video distribution, and video-on-demand (VOD) and multiplexing.”

Traditionally IRDs have been used to decode and decrypt a video signal. However, demand for newer IRDs comes from their ability to support advanced video codecs; distribution of video over IP networks, without losing video quality.

Market participants also have reasons to feel optimistic due to the emergence of the Internet as a viable alternative for digital content delivery. IRDs will also be required to cater to the rising demand for video services in closed networks, such as hotels, malls, and retail stores, where content is displayed for advertising or entertainment.

“Another market expected to see exponential growth over the forecast period, is the enterprise segment,” observes Nath. “Houses of worship, hospitality, healthcare, and education verticals are seeing greater use of video in their day-to-day communication over the Intranet and Internet, leading to higher investment in premium headend equipment - including decoders.”

World Integrated Receiver-Decoder Market is part of the Digital Media Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: content protection and digital rights management, digital asset management, nonlinear editing, video encoders, video streaming, video servers, broadcast switchers, and marketing process optimization. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

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