Pace Micro Technology will be unveiling its new line of MPEG-4 advanced video compression set-top boxes (STBs) at The Cable Show ’08 later this month in New Orleans.

MPEG-4 saves bandwidth by providing a 50 percent bit rate reduction in compression over MPEG-2 . While there are a large number of legacy MPEG-2 STBs in consumers’ homes, cable operators will start deploying more MPEG-4 boxes in the coming years to free up capacity for additional high-definition (HD) channels, HD video-on-demand (VOD) offerings and switched digital video (SDV) deployments.

At the show, Pace is introducing its next-generation family of MPEG-4 advanced video compression STBs for cable in its Apache, Aspen and Denali boxes.

In addition, Pace will show CableCard versions of its Tahoe HD digital video recorder (DVR), Vegas standard-definition (SD) DVR, Miami HD and Butler SD set-tops. Pace is also showing embedded conditional access boxes, as well.

“We’re pleased to introduce our new line of MPEG-4 set-top boxes at this year’s show to help operators support the growing consumer demand for HD programming and the increasing deployment of high-bandwidth applications, such as HD VOD  and SDV,” said Tim O’Loughlin, Pace Americas’ VP of sales and marketing.

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