UHD SPECIAL - AUTUMN 2017 UHD_AUTUMN 2017 | Page 26

T
Board changes at UHD Alliance
he UHD Alliance (UHDA), the inter-
industry group charged with fostering
an ecosystem that fully realises and
promotes the consumer benefits of Ultra HD
with HDR entertainment technology, has
appointed a new board chairman, a new board
member company and its first dedicated, full-
time executive as president.
Michael Zink, Warner Bros.
vice president of technology,
will assume the post of
UHD Alliance chairman
and respected industry
executive Mike Fidler will
take on the newly created
full-time position of Alliance
president. Additionally, and in
recognition of the importance
of next-generation audio to the overall home
entertainment experience, long-time Member-
level UHDA company and leading audio
technology innovator Xperi Corporation (DTS
parent company) has joined the board of the
UHD Alliance.
Zink will succeed 20th Century Fox Film
Corp. CTO Hanno Basse as chairman of the
board of the UHD Alliance. At Warner Bros.,
Zink is responsible for emerging technologies
for the studio’s production, post-production
and distribution capabilities and serves
as WB’s liaison to a range of standards
bodies focused on enhancing and expanding
the home entertainment experience for
consumers. As the UHDA’s incoming
chairman, Zink will be responsible for driving
the organisational mission and vision of
the global coalition as it looks to further
expand certification and logo programs to
help consumers identify premium Ultra
4K UHD H.265/HEVC
player from DVEO
Broadcast and streaming
technology provider DVEO
HD products and content across a range of
categories.
“From a content provider perspective,
there are so many exciting things we can
do with UHD, and in particular with HDR,”
noted Zink. “Consumers are starting to see
the benefits of the technology and are just
beginning to understand how HDR adds to
the experience but still require a great deal
more education. To that end, I expect our
organisational vision will expand to include
broader consumer promotion and information
efforts for UHD in total as well as for our
ULTRA HD PREMIUM and MOBILE HDR
PREMIUM logo programmes.”
As the Alliance expands its vision, Fidler will
be instrumental in enhancing the membership
roles, increasing Ultra HD brand awareness,
driving new consumer education initiatives
and facilitating the expansion of Alliance
certification and logo programs into other
categories of hardware and content. Prior to
joining the UHDA, Fidler served in numerous
senior positions throughout the industry and
has played a pivotal role in launching industry
organisations such as the DVD Entertainment
Group, now known at the Digital Entertainment
Group (DEG), as well as key optical formats
such as DVD and Blu-ray Disc.
Over the course of a career that has touched
virtually the entire entertainment ecosystem
— hardware, content, service providers,
retailers, studios, streaming services —
Fidler also helped drive the conversion of
the theatrical exhibition industry from film
to digital and advanced the development
and marketing of optical laser technologies.
He has served as a senior
executive at leading
consumer electronics
manufacturers, Sony and
Pioneer and most recently,
served as the Entrepreneur
in Residence at CONNECT,
advising start-up companies
in Southern California.
“It is a pivotal year for
UHD and HDR, from both the hardware
and content standpoint, with sales expected
to explode in 2017 en route to continued
growth for the foreseeable future,” observed
Fidler. “Consistency of experience along with
broader consumer awareness and deeper
understanding, will be critical to sustaining
growth and I look forward to working with all
of our members to firmly establish the Alliance
as a leading voice and resource for all things
Ultra HD.”
The Alliance most recently launched its
Mobile HDR Premium™ specification and
logo licensing for battery-operated devices
as an addition to its certification and logo
programme for televisions, pre-recorded
content and Ultra HD Blu-ray players. Both
Zink and Fidler will be at this year’s IFA show
to outline the organisation’s broadening
mission and to discuss connected steps to help
grow the 4K UHD with HDR ecosystem.
to its local hard drive via in a compressed form, playback,” he added. “This
Gigabit Ethernet or a USB although playout is always makes it a perfect 4K HEVC
port. Output for UHD is uncompressed.” video source for video walls,
delivered via the built-in “The Mavio features a museums, sports arenas and
HDMI port, with multiple playlist scheduler and can concert venues, and 4K Ultra
output frame rates up to 30 be configured for ‘looping’ HD broadcast services.”
fps.
“The Mavio
is demonstrating its new decodes live
H.265/HEVC 4K Ultra HD streams and plays
video player at IBC. Now back directly from
shipping, the Mavio 4K IP/ stored compressed
IP: HEVC Live Out can be files in real time,
used as a single channel with 10-bit colour
live HEVC 4K Ultra HD (3840 depth for High
x 2160 resolution) video Dynamic Range
player or a 4 channel Full content,” stated
HD video player. It ingests Laszlo Zoltan, Vice
HD or H.265 based 4K President of DVEO.
compressed video files on “It stores content
26 ADVANCED TELEVISION