NEWS
Branislav Pekic
248
TELE-audiovision International — The World‘s Largest Digital TV Trade Magazine
— 09-10/2013
—
Ultra High Definition HDTV
EUROPE
TRICOLOR TV TESTS ULTRA HD STANDARD
Russian satellite TV operator Tricolor TV plans to
carry out broadcasts using the Ultra HD standard,
reports Tass-Telecom. Offering 3840 x 2160 pixel
resolution, the new standard is four times higher
than the existing Full HD resolution. The broadcasts
will be carried out over the 84-inch 3D TV from LG
supporting Ultra HD. A transponder on the Eutelsat
36A satellite will be used to show the UHDTV
content under the MPEG-4 standard at 40 Mbps.
EUTELSAT, FRANCE TELEVISION
AIR 4K FROM ROLAND GARROS
Eutelsat has teamed up with France Televisions,
ATEME and 4Ever during the Roland Garros
tennis tournament to promote 4K UHDTV.
Visitors to the event were able to see live images
shot by 4K cameras. This was the first trial
that included the new HEVC codec and live
feeds for reception on PC, tablet and PC.
HISPASAT, LG TO PROMOTE ULTRA HD
Spanish satellite operator Hispasat and LG Espana
have reached an agreement to promote the
development of TV in Ultra HD. As part of the deal,
both companies will exchange knowledge, share
a platform for development of new products and
technologies related to Ultra HD, increase their
operational and commercial synergies, spread
the usage of Ultra HD TV sets from LG, as well
as use satellites to support the broadcasting of
new content in Ultra HD. Hispasat will broadcast
via satellite a promotional Ultra HD channel. At
the presentation ceremony a live demonstra-
tion of the new technology was shown on a LG
Ultra HD TV via the Hispasat 1E satellite.
SONY CONDUCTS 4K TRIALS AT WIMBLEDON
Sony has captured part of this year’s Wimble-
don Tennis Championships in the Ultra HD/4K
format. Sony used the F55 cameras and NEX-
FS700 cameras to film the action in 4K. The
footage was shown at the Sony 4K Experience
centre which was set up at the location.
SAMSUNG EXPECTS ULTRA HD TO
BECOME MAINSTREAM IN 2017
UHDTV will become mainstream by 2017,
according to the director of European Business
Development at Samsung Electronics. Speak-
ing at the Futuresource Entertainment Summit
2013, Vassilis Seferidis, said that the question is
whether operators will wait for penetration to reach
5 per cent before introducing channels. He added
that some operators such as Sky Deutschland
were already experimenting with UHDTV.
NORTH AMERICA
INTELSAT AND ERICSSON TRIAL UHDTV
Intelsat and Ericsson in June conducted the first
4G UHDTV trials in North America. Intelsat’s
Galaxy 13 satellite delivered a 4:2:2 10-bit, 4K
UHDTV signal at 60 frames per second to Turner
Broadcasting’s facilities in the USA. The 100 Mbps
video feed was encoded and decoded in real
time by Ericsson, using its AVP 2000 contribu-
tion encoders and RX8200 receivers. Newtec
provided the modulation and demodulation
hardware, featuring Clean Channel Technology.
COMCAST DEMONSTRATES
ULTRA HD OVER 3 GBPS
Cable operator Comcast has demonstrated a
3Gbps broadband connection at NCTA’s Cable
Show 2013 in Washington, DC for downloading a 4K
Ultra HD video file to a PC. On the occasion, Com-
cast said that 4K Ultra HD is still in the early stages.
SONY SELECTS GARTH DAVIS
TO PROMOVE 4K UHDTV
Sony Electronics has launched a marketing
campaign in support of its new 4K Ultra HD TVs,
featuring Garth Davis. The commercial featur-
ing Davis was shot on the Sony F65 and F55
professional 4K cameras. Sony is also advertis-
ing its new 4K UHDTV TV sets via social net-
works, email, direct mail, among other means.
ESPN PREFERS ULTRA HD OVER 3D
Disney has announced it will close down the ESPN
3D channel by the end of the year, after three years
of broadcasting. The channel said that custom-
ers have not warmed to the technology, citing a
“lack of demand from the majority of consumers.”
Disney is now looking to focus their efforts on
Ultra HD or 4K TV rather than 3D broadcasts.
SOUTH AMERICA
SONY RECORDS CONFEDERATIONS
CUP IN 4K
Sony Brasil has covered three matches of the
Confederations Cup, which took place in Brazil in
June, in 4K. The material will be used as test mate-
rial for FIFA and Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo.
A total of 35 cameras were used, five of them 4K.
The image resolution will be 3840 x 2160, which is
five times that of Full HD, and the audio was 5.1.
HISPASAT CONDUCTS 4K
TRANSMISSION IN BRAZIL
Hispasat conducted a live satellite broadcast of
4K content, reproduced on an 84-inch TV set from
LG, during an event in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate
the start of operations of the Amazonas 3 satellite.
The images were generated in Spain and were
received by a PC connected to the TV with the
necessary codecs for playback. Local cable and
DTH operators should start selling the first domestic
receivers compatible with 4K from the 2H 2014.
ASIA
NTT WEST TESTS 4K TV
STREAMS VIA INTERNET
Japan’s NTT West has been conducting 4K tests
via the internet to set-top boxes, a first of its kind.
A new video compression standard is being
used to reduce the amount of data that needs to
be transmitted. Japan plans to become the first
country to broadcast 4K programming over satellite
from 2014, in time for the football World Cup.
SONY ANNOUNCES 4K MEDIA PLAYER
Sony has announced a 4K Ultra HD media player
and a 4K Ultra HD content service providing
4K downloads within the Sony Entertainment
Network. The player, to be available July 15 for
USD 699, will come preloaded with 10 Ultra HD
feature films. Ultra HD compression encoding
technology from eyeIO has been licensed by Sony
Pictures to enable the studio to offer the first-ever
4K UltraHD content delivered to the home.
MEASAT, ERICSSON TEST UHDTV
Ericsson and Measat have demonstrated a live
solution at Broadcast Asia 2013, Asia’s largest
show for the pro-audio, film and TV industries. The
system shows how UHDTV premium coverage
such as live sport can be broadcast today. The
UHDTV trial uses Ericsson’s AVP 2000 contri-
bution encoders, RX8200 advanced modular
receivers, as well as its Simulsync technology.
NHK, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC
DEVELOPS FIRST HEVC ENCODER
NHK and Mitsubishi Electric Corp have jointly
developed the world’s first HEVC encoder for
8K ultra HDTV Super Hi-Vision (SHV). The
SHV standard offers 16 times the number of HD
pixels and a 22.2 multichannel surround sound
experience. HEVC is due to be recognized as an
international standard this year. It offers about
double the data compression of AVC2), and about
four times that of the MPEG-2 standard cur-
rently employed for digital HDTV broadcasting.
JAPANESE COMPANIES TEAM
UP TO PROMOTE ULTRA HD
Some 21 Japanese companies, including
manufacturers, telecommunications operators
and broadcasters, have set up a partnership
to promote the development of the Ultra HDTV
standard. They include broadcasters NHK and
SkyPerfect, as well as manufacturers such as
NEC, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic and Fujitsu.
WORLD
ROVI AND BROADCOM TO
DELIVER 4K DEVICES
Rovi and Broadcom have teamed up to to enable
device manufacturers and service providers to
utilise the benefits of High Efficiency Video Codec
(HEVC/H.265) to deliver an enhanced entertain-
ment experience. Rovi is planning to drive 4K con-
tent creation and market availability of compatible
devices. Broadcom plans to support the playback
of DivX HEVC streaming and downloadable content
in the UHDTV home gateway chip BCM7445.
943.000 UHD LCD PANELS TO
BE SHIPPED THIS YEAR
Manufacturers expect to ship nearly 943,000
Ultra High Definition LCD panels this year, up
from less than 33,000 units in 2012, according
to IHS. For 2015, the figure will reach 7.1 mil-
lion units and in 2017 it will arrive to 20.8 million
units. Suppliers collectively plan to ship as many
as 4 million UHD Ready panels this year alone.
Leading panel suppliers such as Samsung, LG
Display, AUO and Innolux are all introducing
UHD TV panels, with TV brands like Sony, Sharp,
Samsung, LG Electronics, and Vizio planning
to launch their own offerings later this year.
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