Satellite system operator SES has teamed with Harmonic and chip-set manufacturer Broadcom to create and demonstrate ``the first Ultra-HDTV transmissions using the High Efficiency Video Codec (HEVC)" from Astra’s 19.2 degrees European hot spot. Why This Is Important:SES says using HEVC compression improves transmission capacity by some 50 percent compared to previous Ultra HD deployments using MPEG-4 AVC (H.264). It hopes the standard will ultimately become the compression system of choice by TV operators broadcasting Ultra HD.