June 2013
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“Are resolutions beyond HD going to become the new normal?”
TVBEurope 3 News & Contents Looking beyond HD Contents
Dealing with technological change is a never-ending cycle for most broadcasters. Just when you’ve dealt with the implications of digital workflows and moving to HD, new challenges appear on the horizon: technologies that go Beyond HD. David Fox reports
TVBEUROPE’S NEW Beyond HD Masters event takes place at BAFTA in London on 11 June. The one-day conference is designed to answer the key questions you have about the move beyond HD. The event is in the capable chairmanship of John Ive, director of Business Development & Technology at the IABM (one of the key industry bodies, along with the BKSTS, SMPTE and the IBC, supporting the event). “The question on everyone’s mind is ‘are resolutions beyond HD going to become the new normal?’,” asks Ive. “Although HD is not yet everywhere, in many places it is becoming the replacement for standard definition. So one of the things this conference looks at is how pervasive will higher resolutions become and will they supersede HD.” Of course, many broadcasters
have only just moved to HD, and will want to get a return on that investment before even considering going beyond HD, so questions of time scales and how to move to higher resolutions in a way that makes financial sense will be foremost in many broadcasters’ minds. HD took a long time to
move from the R&D labs to mainstream broadcasting, but Ive feels that 4K will happen a lot quicker. The price of consumer 4KTV sets has dropped a lot recently, and he feels that 4K “might cost a very small premium on HD in just a few years time.”
After lunch, there’s a session John Ive: “We have to ask if this is the time to break with legacy formats” Of course, Beyond HD is not
just about pixel count. “We get obsessed with talking about resolution going to 4K or 8K, but will we also see some other video parameters changing”, such as higher frame rates, colour space and dynamic range? These are all areas where we could enjoy substantial improvements, “but they are being held back by the need to support legacy formats,” he said. “We have to ask if this is the time to break with that legacy.”
On the agenda Ive sets the day’s agenda, with his chairman’s introduction, leading on to a keynote speech from Stephan Heimbecher, head of Innovations & Standards/ Product & Operations — Technology, Sky Deutschland on ‘Ultra-HD — the future of broadcasting?’, which is followed
by Chris Johns’ look at how BSkyB might move to Ultra HD. There’s also an examination
by analysts Futuresource into whether consumers are ready to upgrade to yet another new format, and what might persuade them to do so. Then Sony and Telegenic talk about content creation in 4K, including how the technology has been incorporated into the Telegenic’s new Outside Broadcast vehicle, the world’s first 4K multi-camera live OB truck. There’s a high-level discussion on UHD standards and compression and how the key technology is being developed, with speakers from such leading bodies as SMPTE, the DTG and 4EVER. This leads in to the session on Beyond HD distribution, with speakers from Eutelsat and the EBU.
on ‘Production Issues: Trialling 4K live’, looking at the implications for OB and live production, with speakers from NEP Visions, Presteigne Charter and Sony, followed by ‘4K recorded programming: Technical and creative issues’ focusing on drama and high- end documentaries, including the cost implications of 4K post and whether 3DTV is best mastered at 4K, with speakers from ARRI, ONSIGHT and the University of Bath. 3D is investigated further after coffee, with ‘3D Perspectives: Is the fate of 3DTV linked with 4K?’, a panel chaired by Adrian Pennington, with experienced 3D producers Anthony Geffen and Duncan Humphreys, followed by a session titled ‘On the creation of a 3D ecosystem’.
The final session looks to ‘The Future: Beyond current technologies’, with Andy Quested, head of Technology, BBC HD & 3D, who joins Johns and the EBU’s Dr David Wood for a wrap up discussion.
www.beyondhdmasters.com
Beyond HD in the news
TVBEuropehas launched a new Beyond HD Europenewsletter, which will aim to keep you informed about new developments in 4K, 8K, 3D, higher frame rates, higher dynamic range, new compression systems, and anything related to moving beyond today’s HD. If you would like to subscribe to Beyond HD Europe (or one of our other enewsletters), just go to
www.tvbeurope.com/newsletters
13-17 The Workflow Live from Malmö
Jake Young travelled to Sweden to take a look at the infrastructure behind the Eurovision Song Contest with Sennheiser
18 The Business Case Still thinking purple
Now under new owner Belden, Miranda has undergone a management transformation. Dick Hobbs talked to new company president Marco Lopez about inorganic development and venture capital risks
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20-23 News & Analysis The internet of frames One of the most startling pronouncements at NAB this year was that we are wrong to think in terms of files and we should instead consider “the internet of frames”, writes Dick Hobbs
24-41 Summer of Sports: OB Focus
BBC serves tennis fans
The Wimbledon tennis championships are one of the biggest annual OBs mounted by the BBC. Philip Stevens found out what’s involved
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42-44 Comms Forum Philip Stevens discusses current studio and OB communications issues with several industry experts
46-49 News & Analysis HEVC goes beyond HD If we are to move to an Ultra HD world, we will need an ultra efficient compression system. This is the drive behind the move to HEVC/H.265, reports David Fox
50 News Review
A look back at the month’s most interesting stories from the broadcast technology arena
50 13
1-10 News & Analysis Looking beyond HD Just when you’ve dealt with the implications of digital workflows and moving to HD, new challenges appear on the horizon: technologies that go Beyond HD. David Fox reports
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