January 2012

DISH DOCTOR
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DIGITAL HEADEND COST

Q: We would like to establish our own Digital Headend. What is the approximate cost ? Also where can we procure the digital Set Top Boxes and at what cost? What are the legal formalities required, if any ? Thank you.

Anoop Gupta (By E-Mail)

ANS: If you had attended the SCAT 2011 Tradeshow you would have seen many options for buying Digital head ends.

The cost of digital head ends varies significantly depending on the manufacturer, Conditional Access System deployed and the number of locally encoded channels. At the show, the cost of a typical, low cost 200 channel Digital head end commenced at Rs. 30 Lakhs.

Of course, the cost of Digital Set Top Boxes is the major outflow for any digital Cable TV system. Once again the cost of Digital Set Top boxes varies significantly depending on the manufacturer and the CAS system deployed. Currently a typical low cost, MPEG-2 Digital CATV STB would be priced at approx. Rs. 1200 onwards. You could follow the pricing models of DTH manufacturers who offer their service against an initial cost for the equipment. The ideal situation would be where you can recover the cost of the CATV STB as a initial deposit for Digital services.

Acquiring and setting up a Digital head is a complex process which requires good technical knowledge and attention to detail. Unlike setting up an analog head end where you can buy products from various different manufacturers and simply put them together, a digital Headend requires great thought for system integration, to make the system work. Therefore, at least initially, it may be a safe bet to buy the entire digital Headend on a 'Turn-key basis' where the supplier is also responsible for commissioning and start up of the system.

At least one of the prominent exhibitors at SCAT 2011 offers this facility, even to the extent where they will continue to operate the Digital Headend for the 1st year, thereby training your personnel and thereby enabling the smooth technical transition.

The Compulsory Digitisation Ordinance specifies:

  • No new analog Cable TV licenses will be issued, anywhere in India, after 25th October 2011.
  • All analog Cable TV licenses will stand automatically void on the analog sunset date for the relevant territory.
  • New Digital Cable TV licenses will only be issued to parties that qualify, based on various parameters. These qualification parameters have not yet been finalised, but are likely to be based on rather stringent criteria recommended by TRAI, a couple of years ago. We have reviewed these in detail, in the past issues of our magazine.

We will ofcourse keep our readers well informed of the new laws and procedures as and when they are announced.

In February 2012, we are also conduction a detailed technical Workshop on Digitisation, in Mumbai, that will provide details, from international experts on all aspects of establishing a new Digital Cable TV network.


HIGH POWER OPTICAL TRANSMITTER - USELESS ?

Q: I am regular reader of our magazine. I have come to know that A 15 dBm, 1310 nm Optical Transmitter is now available in the market.
I also know that a maximum optical signal of 14 dBm can travel in an optic fiber cable. Please guide me in this regard.
Thanking you,

Mukhtar Alam,
Jamshedpur

ANS: You are correct; it is not possible to launch an optical signal significantly higher than 13.5 dBm into a long length of optical fiber. Externally modulated optical transmitters can launch up to 17.5 dBm optical signals into a fiber, using SBS compression. (Our past technical articles and How To Book -3 on Fibre Optic explains this in detail.)
There are EDFA (1550 nm) optical amplifiers that can provide 24 dBm and even higher optical output.
These optical outputs can be fully utilized by using an optical splitter. As an example, a 4-way optical splitter will have 8 dB loss for each of its 4 outputs compared to the inputs. Hence, if the output is 20 dBm, you can obtain 4 outputs of 12 dBm each using a 4-way optical splitter. Each output of the optical splitter can be used for a separate trunk line.


DIGITAL FTA HEADEND USING TRANS-MODULATORS

Q: I am a cable operator, from West Bengal.
I want a set up 50 to 60 channels digital FTA Headend, using Trans-Modulators.
Please provide me details of the price, etc. Thanks You.

Mr. Chakraborty.

ANS: Thank you for your message. While it is certainly possible to set up a digital FTA Headend using Trans-Modulators, the recent (25th October 2011) Government ordinance for compulsory digitisation, and switch off of analog cable TV, actually states :
" Where the Central Government is satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make it obligatory for every cable operator to transmit or re-transmit programmes of any channel in an encrypted form through a digital addressable system with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification and different dates may be specified for different States, cities, towns or areas, as the case may be."

This clearly shows that beyond the specified analog Sunset date for your location, you MUST install a digital ADDRESSABLE system WITH ENCRYPTION.

Hence, it does not seem a good idea to currently install an FTA digital system and FTA STBs. You will have to replace all the FTA STBs with addressable STBs and of course an addressable digital Headend.

It would therefore be a better investment if you identify and install a digital addressable system with encryption.

Despite the above, if you still want to install an FTA digital cable TV system, yes, you can use Trans-Modulators such as those available from Winnersat / Surbhi Broadband, as well as Safe View. Prices for these products are best obtained from the respective companies or their representatives / agents in India. You can get their contact details from their advertisements in this magazine.


Dish Doctor
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