
EN 300 429
V1.2.1
(1998-04)
European Standard (Telecommunications series
)
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB);
Framing structure, channel coding and modulation
for cable systems
EBU
UER
European Broadcasting Union Union Européenne de Radio-Télévision

ETSI
EN 300 429 V1.2.1 (1998-04)2
Reference
REN/JTC-DVB-71 (3z000ioo.PDF)
Keywords
DVB, digital, video, broadcasting, cable, MPEG,
TV
ETSI
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Copyright Notification
No part may be reproduced except as authorized by written permission.
The copyright and the foregoing restriction extend to reproduction in all media.
© European Telecommunications Standards Institute 1998.
© European Broadcasting Union 1998.
All rights reserved.

ETSI
EN 300 429 V1.2.1 (1998-04)3
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights................................................................................................................................4
Foreword ............................................................................................................................................................4
1 Scope........................................................................................................................................................5
2 References................................................................................................................................................5
3 Symbols and abbreviations ......................................................................................................................5
3.1 Symbols ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
3.2 Abbreviations..................................................................................................................................................... 6
4 Cable System concept ..............................................................................................................................6
4.1 Baseband interfacing and sync........................................................................................................................... 8
4.2 Sync 1 inversion and randomization.................................................................................................................. 8
4.3 Reed-Solomon (RS) coder................................................................................................................................. 8
4.4 Convolutional interleaver................................................................................................................................... 8
4.5 Byte to m-tuple conversion................................................................................................................................ 8
4.6 Differential encoding ......................................................................................................................................... 8
4.7 Baseband shaping .............................................................................................................................................. 8
4.8 QAM modulation and physical interface ........................................................................................................... 8
4.9 Cable receiver.................................................................................................................................................... 8
5 MPEG-2 transport layer...........................................................................................................................8
6 Framing structure.....................................................................................................................................9
7 Channel coding ......................................................................................................................................10
7.1 Randomization for spectrum shaping............................................................................................................... 10
7.2 Reed-Solomon coding...................................................................................................................................... 11
7.3 Convolutional interleaving............................................................................................................................... 11
8 Byte to symbol mapping ........................................................................................................................12
9 Modulation.............................................................................................................................................13
Annex A (normative): Baseband filter characteristics.....................................................................17
Annex B (informative): Transparency of cable networks..................................................................18
Annex C (informative): Bibliography...................................................................................................19
History..............................................................................................................................................................20

ETSI
EN 300 429 V1.2.1 (1998-04)4
Intellectual Property Rights
IPRs essential or potentially essential to the present document may have been declared to ETSI. The information
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, is publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be found
in ETR 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to ETSI in respect of
ETSI standards", which is available free of charge from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the ETSI
Web server (http://www.etsi.fr/ipr).
Pursuant to the ETSI Interim IPR Policy, no investigation, including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI.
No guarantee can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not referenced in ETR 314 (or the updates on
http://www.etsi.fr/ipr) which are, or may be, or may become, essential to the present document.
Foreword
This European Standard (Telecommunications series) has been produced by the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Comité Européen de Normalisation ELECtrotechnique (CENELEC) and the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
NOTE: The EBU/ETSI JTC was established in 1990 to co-ordinate the drafting of standards in the specific field
of broadcasting and related fields. Since 1995 the JTC became a tripartite body by including in the
Memorandum of Understanding also CENELEC, which is responsible for the standardization of radio and
television receivers. The EBU is a professional association of broadcasting organizations whose work
includes the co-ordination of its members' activities in the technical, legal, programme-making and
programme-exchange domains. The EBU has active members in about 60 countries in the European
broadcasting area; its headquarters is in Geneva *.
* European Broadcasting Union
CH-1218 GRAND SACONNEX (Geneva)
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 717 21 11
Fax: +41 22 717 24 81
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Project
Founded in September 1993, the DVB Project is a market-led consortium of public and private sector organizations in
the television industry. Its aim is to establish the framework for the introduction of MPEG-2 based digital television
services. Now comprising over 200 organizations from more than 25 countries around the world, DVB fosters market-
led systems, which meet the real needs, and economic circumstances, of the consumer electronics and the broadcast
industry.
National transposition dates
Date of adoption of this EN: 17 April 1998
Date of latest announcement of this EN (doa): 31 July 1998
Date of latest publication of new National Standard
or endorsement of this EN (dop/e): 31 January 1999
Date of withdrawal of any conflicting National Standard (dow): 31 January 1999

ETSI
EN 300 429 V1.2.1 (1998-04)5
1 Scope
The present document only adds 128 and 256 QAM to the specification.
The present document describes the framing structure, channel coding and modulation (denoted "the System" for the
purposes of the present document) for a digital multi-programme television distribution by cable. The aim of the present
document is to present a harmonized transmission standard for cable and satellite, based on the MPEG-2 System Layer
ISO/IEC 13818-1 [1], with the addition of appropriate Forward Error Correction (FEC) technique.
This System can be used transparently with the modulation/channel coding system used for digital multi-programme
television by satellite (see EN 300 421 [3]). The System is based on Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM).
It allows for 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256-QAM constellations.
The System FEC is designed to improve Bit Error Ratio (BER) from 10
-4
to a range, 10
-10
to 10
-11
, ensuring "Quasi
Error Free" (QEF) operation with approximately one uncorrected error event per transmission hour.
2 References
References may be made to:
a) specific versions of publications (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.), in
which case, subsequent revisions to the referenced document do not apply; or
b) all versions up to and including the identified version (identified by "up to and including" before the version
identity); or
c) all versions subsequent to and including the identified version (identified by "onwards" following the version
identity); or
d) publications without mention of a specific version, in which case the latest version applies.
A non-specific reference to an ETS shall also be taken to refer to later versions published as an EN with the same
number.
[1] ISO/IEC 13818-1: "Coding of moving pictures and associated audio".
[2] IEEE Trans. Comm. Tech., COM-19, pp. 772-781, (October 1971) Forney, G.D.: "Burst-
correcting codes for the classic bursty channel".
[3] EN 300 421: "Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); Framing structure, channel coding and
modulation for 11/12 GHz satellite services".
3 Symbols and abbreviations
3.1 Symbols
For the purposes of the present document, the following symbols apply:
α
Roll-off factor
A
k
, B
k
Most Significant Bits at the output of the Byte to m-tuple converter
f
0
Channel centre frequency
f
N
Nyquist frequency
g(x) RS code generator polynomial
HEX Hexadecimal
I Interleaving depth (bytes)
I, Q In-phase, Quadrature phase components of the modulated signal
j Branch index
k Number of bytes mapped into n symbols