Devon, Pennsylvania & Milford, Massachusetts – Belar and THAT Corporation today jointly announced Belar’s TVM-230 Digital BTSC TV Stereo Monitor/ Analyzer, featuring digital dbx-tv™ decoding technology from THAT. According to Belar’s President, Arno Meyer, “The new TVM-230 delivers unprecedented performance by combining Belar’s own DSP demodulation with THAT’s digital companding technology. With the BTSC Encoder enabled, the TVM-230 reliably delivers over 50dB midband separation and more than 40dB at 14kHz, with 85dB signal-to-noise ratio and <0.1% distortion.” THAT’s president, Les Tyler, commented “THAT’s fully digital dbx-tv expander eliminates the trim adjustments required by previous analog dbx-tv decoders, including THAT’s own industry-standard 525 cards. So, performance starts high and stays high over the entire life of the product. We surpass even the tightest broadcast specifications for BTSC transmission.”

Belar’s TVM-230 fits in the same form factor of its predecessor. The unit is intended to operate in conjunction with Belar’s TVM-100 or TVM-101, or other makers’ wide-band aural demodulators. The TVM-230 provides the measurement capability needed to set up, test, and measure BTSC stereo TV transmitters, and offers accurately decoded L and R channel audio outputs. Linear phase FIR (digital) filters to reduce phase distortion, coupled with THAT’s fully digital dbx-tv expander, ensure extreme accuracy for measuring modulation peaks.

THAT provided its dbx-tv decoding technology under license to Belar in the form of Verilog DSP code that is executed in a Xilinx FPGA. Based on THAT’s extensive experience with the BTSC companding system, THAT developed this professional version of its decoder specifically to suit Belar’s demanding application. THAT offers both professional and consumer-quality versions of dbx-tv encoders and decoders to the TV industry.

Belar, based in Devon PA, is the world’s leading manufacturer of modulation monitors, used by radio and television stations to monitor technical aspects of their broadcast signal. The company was founded in 1964 by the late Isobel (“BEL”) and Arno (“AR”) Meyer.

THAT Corporation, based in Milford, MA, is the premier supplier of dbx-tv and BTSC intellectual property to the consumer and professional television industries. The company was founded in 1989 as a spin-off of dbx, Inc., by three engineers formerly associated with dbx.

For more information contact:
THAT Corporation,
45 Sumner Street, Milford, MA 01757-1656, U.S.A.
Telephone: +1 508 478-9200; Fax: +1 508 478-0990
Email: info@dbx-tv.com

or

Belar Electronics Laboratory, Inc.
119 Lancaster Ave, P.O. Box 76, Devon, PA 19333-0076, U.S.A.
Telephone: +1 610 687-5550; Fax: +1 610 687-2686
Email: sales@belar.com