Abstract: A multicasting system for reception of multimedia information comprising: a content switch coupled to a multimedia content source and at least one multimedia smart terminal. The multimedia content source includes a plurality of multimedia contents, wherein each multimedia content is supported by a primary multimedia stream transmitted over a primary dedicated channel having a primary bandwidth. At least one multimedia smart terminal is configured to receive from the content switch over a network each multimedia content as a secondary multimedia stream transmitted over a secondary channel having a secondary bandwidth. The content switch includes a bandwidth scaler configured to scale each primary multimedia stream to a plurality of secondary multimedia sub-streams that are substantially synchronized.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for bandwidth scaling of a compressed video stream are disclosed. An original previously compressed video stream image having a first level of compression including a first level of quantization is decompressed, and a set of original motion vectors for each P source picture and for each B source picture is recovered and saved. The decompressed video stream image is re-compressed re-using the most relevant saved original motion vectors in order to create a re-compressed video stream image having a second level of compression including a second level of quantization. The most relevant motion vectors point out to the camera movement and to the moving objects within the original reference frame.

Abstract: A multicasting system for reception of multimedia information comprising: a content switch coupled to a multimedia content source and at least one multimedia smart terminal. The multimedia content source includes a plurality of multimedia contents, wherein each multimedia content is supported by a primary multimedia stream transmitted over a primary dedicated channel having a primary bandwidth. At least one multimedia smart terminal is configured to receive from the content switch over a network each multimedia content as a secondary multimedia stream transmitted over a secondary channel having a secondary bandwidth. The content switch includes a bandwidth scaler configured to scale each primary multimedia stream to a plurality of secondary multimedia sub-streams that are substantially synchronized.