Envivio Steps Up HEVC Program, Adds Video Quality Enhancements for MPEG-2 and AVC

South San Francisco, Calif., September 4, 2013 – Envivio, a provider of software-based video processing and delivery solutions, today announced video quality and compression efficiency enhancements to its Envivio Muse™ encoders. The improvements span the full range of codecs, from HEVC (H.265) to MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) and MPEG-2.

Live or on-demand HEVC encoding—at resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD—are supported in the newest versions of the Muse software, and several tier 1 customers around the world are actively engaged with Envivio in HEVC field trials as part of Envivio’s HEVC Early Access Program. Customers testing Envivio HEVC encoders include US cable operators and telco/satellite operators in Asia and Europe.

In addition, Envivio has teamed with multiple HEVC decoder vendors including Pixtree, a decoding and streaming server provider based in Korea. Envivio and Pixtree have developed a joint solution for HEVC streaming to mobile devices and PCs.

“The joint solution between Pixtree and Envivio combines a world-class encoder, commercial decoder and streaming server as an integrated solution for delivery of HEVC video streaming services on any device, offering operators the benefit of higher quality at significantly lower bitrates,” said Jaeseob Shin, CEO of Pixtree. “We are seeing great interest from our service provider customers in this solution and are currently testing it with operators in Asia.”

Envivio is also introducing enhancements to its statistical rate control for variable bitrate (VBR) multiplexing and distribution. The latest generation of statistical rate control for MPEG-2, AVC and HEVC improves bandwidth efficiency without adding delay from multi-pass encoding, using a proprietary pre-analysis module capable of estimating picture complexity and providing more refined rate control information.

“At Envivio, we strive to constantly improve our video algorithms and solutions to offer the highest quality, most advanced compression software,” said Boris Felts, vice president of products for Envivio. “We are working with customers from all market segments—cable, telco, satellite and broadcast—to deliver a wide range of solutions including new HEVC services and converged headends that encompass traditional TV and multi-screen in MPEG-2 and AVC formats.”

Envivio’s latest video codec innovations, including HEVC compression of 4K Ultra HD content, will be demonstrated at the upcoming IBC exhibition in Amsterdam, September 13-17 at Envivio’s booth #1.D73. Envivio CTO, Jean-Pierre Henot, will also present a paper titled, “High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC): The Next Big Thing? “ at the IBC conference on Sunday, September 15 during a panel session, “High Efficiency Video Coding—Will It Do Enough?” from 8:30-10:30 am in the Emerald Room at the RAI.

More than 300 content and service providers around the globe have selected Envivio to power their multi-screen services.