6 TVBEurope News & Analysis An up-polished HD? M3 cable By Chris Forrester
THERE WAS disagreement at the SMPTE-organised ‘Beyond HD’ session at IBC, and some serious concern over whether Digital Europe’s proposal of an 8-bit minimum bit-depth for 4K would be enough to create an impact with the viewing public. Howard Lukk (VP production technologies at Walt Disney Studios) was just one voice amongst many who said that 8-bit was “a bad start, and a possible false step”. The BBC’s head of technology (HD & 3D) Andy Quested said he was concerned that the public was in danger of suffering “consumer fatigue, unless we can give them something that represents a big, and I stress, a major, step change in quality. We have to be offering a package that includes additional frame rates, a dynamic range that will help sports coverage take off, and
doubt that [8-bit] gives us enough of a playground.” BSkyB’s chief engineer Chris
Howard Lukk: 8-bit was “a bad start, and a possible false step”
that can also show movies and other acquired programming in the way it should look. [If we fail] then we might as well all press the ‘vivid’ button on the sets that will be sold. We must add increased colour imagery into the dynamic range.” Sky Deutschland’s head of
innovations/standards, Stephan Heimbecher, added that broadcasters were under great pressure from the display
manufacturing sector to “get the whole thing rolling. But it is quite disappointing for me that we are not taking a sufficient major step forward. What we are seeing is just an ‘up- polished’ version of HD, and not much more than that. We can live with 50/60p just at the moment, but we mustn’t stop there. The other parameters must include much better pixels, and not extra pixels. I very much
UHD too early will leave everyone in ‘a sorry mess’
By Ann-Marie Corvin
VIEWERS CAN’T tell the difference between HD and 4K, they won’t pay a premium for it and there are much better uses of spectrum — this was the conclusion reached by delegates attending ‘The Great Quality Debate: Do we Really Need to go Beyond HD?’ at IBC. The BBC’s head of technology
for HD and 3D Andy Quested argued that Ultra HD would bring “an emotional quality” to
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big events such as football. “Soccer is more than a game of two halves — it’s about the emotion and seeing the entire field of play continuously. It’s about the position of every player on the pitch and what the linesman is doing. It’s about the sweat on goalkeeper’s face and the faces in the crowd as a goal goes in…I want to be in the image, be part of the image and have a real sense of presence.” Dr Giles Wilson also waved the flag for Ultra HD from a business
perspective. “In trials capturing sports in Ultra HD we always see the same reaction — the ‘wow’ factor. People talk about how real it seems, the added depth and how it feels like 3D but it’s not. They talk about the colour, the sense of presence. Can we afford not to go Ultra HD? Consumers will always go where there is a compelling experience.” However, ad man Rory
Sutherland, vice chair of the Ogilvy Group in the UK argued that, like 3D, the human brain would only
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Johns argued that if minimum standards were specified and adopted then “would the public again be confused in two or three years when higher qualities became available. If there was just HDMI as a logo on my screen, who would know whether it was compatible with HD, Ultra HD or some future generation of Ultra HD? “There has to be greater clarification. We have to create a very positive impact. We can deliver the extra resolution, and improved frame rates and bit- depth because the one thing that catches us out is the lack of dynamic range.” The panel, chaired by the
EBU’s Dr Hans Hoffmann, called for much greater clarity on these variables and even a customer education programme, and to “do a better job than we did on HDTV”.
perceive a marginal difference between HD and 4K: “The additional resolution would not add much at all – and people won’t pay a premium for it. It’s just like there is something about human psychology that really doesn’t enjoy 3D. If you cover up one eye you do not become shocked by how flat the world is,” he argued. For media journalist Ray
Snoddy Ultra HD was a “technological inevitability” — but it was all a matter of timing. As well as “not being the best use of spectrum”, he argued that introducing 4K when the majority of consumers were still enjoying their HD sets would be “premature ejaculation that would leave everybody in a sorry mess.” He added: “My Sony Bravia is staying firmly screwed into the wall for the next five years.”
By Michael Burns
MIRANDA DEMONSTRATED its new M3 integration cable at IBC2013, a product intended to simplify router to multi- viewer connectivity. The Miranda 3Gbps router
integration cable replaces 16 coax cables and connectors by assimilating them into a single, high-density cable structure. Miranda said this would enable seamless integration between Miranda Nvision routers and
simplifies connectivity
www.tvbeurope.com October 2013
M3: 16 coax cables in a single high-density structure
Kaleido-Modular-X and Kaleido- MX multi-viewers for integrators and installers, while reducing costs. The company claimed that the
M3’s support of SMPTE 424M would ensure that pristine 3Gbps video could be transported across double the cable length of competitive offerings. Additionally, the use of fewer cables sharply reduces interconnect complexity, cable volume and weight. Miranda said that this would not only improve cooling by removing obstacles to ventilation, it saves the time and expense of acquiring and deploying multiple lengths of traditional cabling. Intended to liberate space in
OB vans, the cable was developed through a collaborative effort between the Miranda development team and cable experts from within Belden.
www.miranda.com
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