DVB-T2 PLP Plugfest

June 30, 2010   On June 22nd to 24th Media Broadcast and the DVB Project held a DVB-T2 Plugfest in Berlin to test the M-PLP (Multiple Physical Layer Pipes) technology that is a relevant part of the DVB-T2 standard. This test successfully demonstrated how the PLP technology allows the combining of services with different transmission requirements. For example, HDTV to roof top antennas or Standard Definition TV (SDTV) to receivers with indoor antennas within the same channel.    The live TV transmission from the Alexanderplatz TV tower Berlin demonstrated a realistic set-up and allowed the interoperability testing of various DVB-T2 gateways, modulators, receivers and measurement devices. The trial transmission will remain active until July 11th.   The configuration includes two Physical Layer Pipes that are combined and transmitted in a single multiplex. Layer 1 contains a H.264 encoded HD signal with a data rate of 10Mbit/s, which can be received with an outdoor antenna. Layer 2 contains three H.264 encoded SD signals with an average data rate of 3Mbit/s each. This second layer is aimed at portable and in-door reception using smaller antennas. This flexibility to combine SD and HD services with different robustness rates inside one channel allows DVB-T2 to cater to different scenarios at the same time. In addition to the increase of efficiency and/or robustness, this is another important benefit of the DVB-T2 standard.   More information on Media Broadcast and the PLP Plugfest can be found here.