Hitachi High-Technologies is pleased to announce the launch of the world's first professional HDTV MPEG2 Decoder PCI card capable of decoding HD MPEG-2 TS streams of up to 200Mbps. No longer will you be limited to handling video streams of only 80Mbps, the MD1S60DG-PCI card will give you the extended capability of decoding HDTV DVB-ASI transport streams of up to 200Mbps in both 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 formats. The calibre of the HD-SDI stream output picture quality is outstanding and true to the broadcast industry that this card supports. Ideal applications for the card include digital cinemas and theatres enabling the delivery of film quality pictures, HD contribution and mobile HD.

Main features of the HD MPEG-2 Decoder are demonstrated by its ability to decode both 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 formats in a TS of up to 200Mbps and its flexibility to auto-sense all major HD video formats, including 1080i at 25, 29.97 and 30fps; 1080p at 23.97, 24fps and 720p at 59.94 and 60fps. Profile and Levels: MP@HL, 422P@HL and MP@H14L. Two audio channels are supported decoding MPEG-1 Layer II audio with AES-EBU outputs. In a short-PCI card profile, the main card dimension is 175mm x 107mm excluding the BNC connectors for transport stream input and audio/video output. It is also possible to drive the card in standalone mode with a PCI-bridge adaptor card.

With High Definition TV making its mark on the industry Hitachi High-Technologies is pleased to respond to the overwhelming request for an MPEG2 HD Decoder capable of decoding the HD video streams from low bit-rates of less than 15Mbps up to very high bitrates of up to 200Mbps on a PCI card. The MD1S60DG-PCI meets all these criteria and beyond with its excellent specification and will be an invaluable tool in the production of richer and more diverse HDTV programming.