The first HD terrestrial transmission in Africa was launched at the 5th Screen Africa Talent & Technology Conference 2007 by Nic Bonthuys, Acting COO of SABC Technology and Manny Coelho, project leader at Air Time TV Outside Broadcasts. Speaking during the conference on Tuesday 12 June, they sketched the background to the trail transmissions which were undertaken as a collaborative venture between SABC and Sentech.

Bonthuys explained that the reason behind the HD trial transmissions was because the SABC, which has already invested in two HD Outside Broadcast units with the purchase of more HD equipment planned for the near future, had received a number of requests from international clients to do HD outside broadcasts. The first live HD OB transmission is expected to take place in two months time. “The FIFA World Cup draw will also be covered and transmitted internationally in HD later this year,” Bonthuys said.

Coelho said that the HD trial transmissions also provided an opportunity for SABC to gain valuable experience in this area of broadcast transmission.

A live HD transmission from master control within SABC was demonstrated over a three day period at the Mediatech Africa 2007 exhibition which ran alongside the Screen Africa conference in Sandton. Exhibition delegates were able to preview the HD cinematic experience created by a wide screen, high quality sound and exceptionally crisp visuals.

The demonstration involved the coding of the HD signal unsing MPEG-4 compression, the distribution of the signal to Sentech, the transmission of the signal via the digital terrestrial (DTT) transmitter at Sentech tower, the reception of the signal using a DTT HD set top box and the display of the HD content on a widescreen display.