[opendtv] headend encoders

headend is a cable term, not a broadcast one (true headends; cable headends are 
just transfer points), so I will assume that you are asking about both.

I would tend to doubt that there are even 100K encoders world wide, even beyond 
the broadcast and cable markets.   Encoders tend to cost multiples of $10,000.

Most broadcasters have but a single encoder at this point, but that encoder can 
handle all the virtual channels provided by a broadcaster.  Sinclair is an 
exception: they have two encoders per transport stream.  At least a few years 
back, they had a single sd encoder and a single HD encoder.  In many encoders, 
adding a new program service can be done by adding a new card to the rack 
frame. Not exactly cheap cards, however.

Broadcasters tend to have redundant equipment arrangements when revenue is at 
stake, to keep the commercial fires stoked even in the face of trouble.  
However, digital is not at this point a revenue-producing business, so few have 
redundant digital encoders.

For cable, digital is a revenue producing business, and I suspect there is more 
than a bit of redundancy there.  However, not all digital services need to be 
encoded. The HITS (headend in the sky) model is set up so that cable systems 
can largely just pass through the channel configuration without encoding per se.

I don't know much about the cable configuration, but a single encoder usually 
can encode more than one program service simultaneously.

hth

John Willkie

Steve Wilson wrote
I am wondering about the allocation of # of digital channels and number of 
encoders in a headend, are they typically implemented 1:1? How big is the 
broadcast encoder market - maybe 250K or 500K units?  Thanks for the 
comments....
 
 
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