“ There ’ s a big appetite for trials around the live environment .”
relatively modest data rates but when you are recording in the first instance you want to throw away that information as late as possible . So , in the production environment you ’ ve got some major headaches for our customers , specifically storage capacity and speed of moving files around . We are certainly heading in the right direction but it remains a big problem ,” warns Felstead .
“ When shooting you can shoot as you do HD and sometimes with less cameras – so saving money . Our intention is to go to native 4K eventually . We are curating a 4K channel and so I think it is important it is 4K across the board ; shifting up and down would be unacceptable to the viewer ,” comments Hindlaugh .
“ Certainly , we don ’ t want to cloud the issue for the audience . This is no 3D TV , people are excited by it , but we ’ ve got to make sure we deliver on the production equipment so channels can actually emerge on it , and I think the industry has been guilty of drip feeding the technology through to the consumer in terms of screens and I think there ’ s a real need to reassure consumers about the investment they have made ,” says Trow .
A huge amount of broadcasting around the world remains in SD , let alone HD , what are the timescales for the demise of SD and the wide introduction of UHD ?
“ It is the transition that is so expensive for broadcasters , so small broadcasters can start in HD relatively inexpensively ,” says Mikeladze , “ and , many will have their future in IP . We are at the very early stages of television switching to IP for television – I
“ The IT train moves very fast compared to digital technologies .” come from IT and software and this train moves very fast compared to regular digital technologies . I am not worried about network or storage problems , capacities double every couple of years and will continue to do so .”
“ That ’ s true but it isn ’ t clear how the economics will work out . If we compare an IP production system alongside a conventional one , we find costs actually go up ,” states Felstead . “ That may be temporary , but customers will make economically pragmatic decisions and the long tail of SD will continue – there is a demand , consumers still watch and advertisers still buy . We will be in this hybrid environment for some time to come .”
What about the 4K UHD sets being sold in big numbers now – will consumers soon find they have under-performing legacy kit as UHD ’ s attributes improve ?
“ There is a challenge with some of the older sets . The new ones coming through are capable of displaying HDR once we decide which road to go down . For a broadcaster , you have to look at the consumers ’ units that are out there and try and ensure you can deliver in the formats that are compatible . There are a lot of people buying 4K TVs but not just for 4K , the Smart TV revolution has really taken off – that ’ s what people buy for and then they see the 4K capability and begin to demand content to go with it ,” says Hindlaugh .
“ This is where the broadcast industry lets itself down ,” notes Trow . “ The development road map is always out there – you can read in the daily papers what is coming down the pipe in terms of capability and consumers buy on that expectation , and this is what makes standards arguments so difficult ; sometimes you can ’ t implement obvious upgrades because it abandons too many early adopters .”
“ In terms of over the air broadcast , it is a slow process . We introduced analogue HD in the late 1990s with interlacing and here we are 15-20 years later still in ‘ a transition period ’,” says Felstead . “ If you go 10-15 years forward we ’ ll have many more UHD channels because the value proposition is there and it is clear . As far as the shift to streaming is concerned , the determining step will be bandwidth availability for home delivery .”
“ In our experience , what we ’ ve seen with Public Service Broadcasters is high levels of activity around UHD1 , a specific example being the standards work with a major milestone recently at the ITU where the joint BBC / NHK development for hybrid log gamma along with PQ , is a major step forward ; it enables the creation of great quality HDR but also backward compatibility with today ’ s SDR viewers ,” says Sykes .
“ That is important – steps are needed for live UHD production ; our customers tell us
HDR production of live events while still serving SDR audiences is a real challenge ,” notes Felstead .
“ Yes , there ’ s a big appetite for trials around that live environment – everyone wants to get HD and UHD streamlined into one production line ,” agrees Sykes .
Will we sit here in four years ’ time and look forward to 8K broadcasts from the Tokyo Olympics ?
“ Well , when I was at the BBC , we did the 2012 opening ceremony in 8K and 3D , so it ’ s kind of old news ,” quips Hindlaugh . “ But there is a bit here of ‘ don ’ t run before you can walk ’, and also just because you can doesn ’ t mean you should .... broadcast operations are about what does our audience want , how can they access that content and what quality meets their expectations . With 8K , for instance , we have to say the UK infrastructure isn ’ t in the same state as the Japanese in terms of the capacity to deliver 8K ...”
“ It is in our nature to push the boundaries and we are trialling 8K with customers in Japan , but whether there is a business model that delivers for most of our customers , that ’ s
“ No manufacturer would get away with a strictly proprietary approach .”
another matter . As we have discussed , there are still a number of challenges with 4K and with 8K those same challenges become quite eye watering ,” says Felstead .
“ 4K will become normal ,” comments Mikeladze , “ and we all saw the amazing football coverage in 8K some years ago from NHK , but I wonder which will come first 8K or 360 degree Virtual Reality . VR is an answer to the issue of screen size ; you need a big screen to really appreciate 4K and even bigger to get the best from 8K , but our rooms are not going to get that much bigger . Smart phones are already shooting in and displaying 4K , if you can then put them into a VR headset , perhaps that is the way forward , though a complete VR immersion requires at least 16K .”
“ For the next four years it is 4K for TV . In the cinematic arena , people are backing 8K because it has a good fit with what they are doing , whether that will migrate further down is open to debate ...” concludes Trow .
To watch the whole roundtable go to www . advanced-television . com
EUROMEDIA 27