that’s sport, its success in 4K,
or not, will overspill to other
genres,” states Wilson Dunn.
“Some of the content
producers will be looking to
get their 4K UHD product
out in 2018 with full channels
launching under most of the big
brands in 2020,” predicts Trow.
8K Dreams
“The lesson is if you introduce
too many confusing factors
into the marketplace that dilute
the standard feature set that
broadcasters can address, you
run the risk of people saying
‘I’ll wait until 8K or HFR, or
whatever, comes.’ Personally,
I think there’ ll be a consensus
the message is much more confusing for the broadcasters and providers wanting to see
consumers – we have to do our best, along parity between DTH and broadband delivery,
with retailers, to educate consumers.” so a lot focus on video optimisation. I think
the issue of latency is huge and we see satellite
being used extensively for backhaul and any
Public Broadcasters other major hops, so an ostensibly OTT service
“I think it is very difficult for public Trow.
broadcasters at the moment, the BBC are still
actually involves a lot of satellite delivery,” says
Earth, they will be mastering those in UHD. Standards
Most people are interested in sport – and “What is future proofing? To make the big
that means there are a lot of pop-up 4K for investments in content and production the
special events. It begs the question: ‘What is a install base has to be as compatible as possible
channel?’,” says Trow. with the latest developments and that means a
“In the coming years it will not be public challenge for us in backwards compatibility,”
broadcasters leading the way – we still have comments Taylor, “and that’s difficult when
plenty of countries in analogue SD. Another the technology moves so fast. So, HDR for
story is pay-TV and I think streaming is in a us is a two year old technology with HDR
better position; You Tube began streaming 10, then Dolby Vision, then Plus and Hybrid
4K in 2010! Netflix and Prime have also had Log Gamma – we support as many formats
4K for years now. Streaming, IP, the internet, as possible because want more content to
development speed there is much faster than be created. We work very hard to enable
in television. We see a 40 per cent increase backward compatibility, for example all 2016
in broadband speed every year – so more OLED televisions will be updated with HLG
and more are ready to stream UHD,” states via a download. Of course this means the SoCs
Mikeladze. have to be very well specified and lot of R&D
goes into making new developments work on
old chip sets.”
Capacity
“Workflows are the big issue in broadcasters
will be used for digital cinema or maybe VR,
but for now the TV road map will stick to 4K,”
advises Trow.
“We’ve showcased an 8K TV already,” says
Taylor. “It was on a very large format and
the question has to be asked: ‘What do you
do with all these extra pixels and resolution
in anything other than very large screens?’
in SD for regional news, for instance. When
it comes to headline productions like Planet
that 4K suits the workflow, the
bitrates available and 8K is a step above. It
We are cooperating on development with
NHK, and if the market moves that way,
then we will too, but our immediate priority
is very much 4K HDR. The introduction of
high frame rate is very important as well,
and before we start moving on to greater
resolution we need to be focussed on the here
and now.”
“I would be happy to have customers
wanting to handle 8K soon,” admits
Mikeladze, “but I think it will be years –
five, ten, - before 8K is where 4K is now. I
remember it was 30 years ago when the first
HD transmissions were done in Japan by
NHK in analogue. Of course there is a big
problem of TV size for 8K – the screens can
easily be made bigger, but not our homes
or the rooms in them! But it may be useful
for resolution hungry applications like 360
degree and VR. ”
“I would love to see the bandwidth usage
of 8K, of course,” says Wilson-Dunn, “but
looking at 8K as a medium, I think it is for
and the investment in IP means this can be Timeline handled more easily and flexibly,” says Wilson- “Sports does tend to drive new adoption. But think there’s a lot of noise around 8K because
Dunn. “In terms of markets, our first success if you think of things like Planet Earth, that’s it’s about Japan doing something different
with 4K was in India with the cricket, so it going to require the BBC and the like to adopt for the Olympics. But I think you reach a
does vary a great deal. You have neighbouring 4K and go forward for certain broadcasts. The tipping point of what is the optimum viewing
countries where one is going for UHD and the consumer push will come when there’s more experience in the living room and it’s likely
other is still SD. In Asia, we work with satellite panels out there with more capability. But it to be a 55-60in screen with 4K HDR and
operators that are ring-fencing entire birds for is a tough time for traditional broadcasters to wider colour gamut, going any further than
4K.” expand their economic model. I think 2020 is that, I think you start the law of diminishing
crucial because of the Olympics and, though returns.”
“At CES there was a lot of discussion by
public displays, not for the living room. I
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