14 TVBEurope
Beyond HD: 4K Challenges
Is the 4K scramble hurting the industry?
While the prospect of a 4K future has invigorated a few sectors of the industry, behind the enthusiasm there is still caution, with many still recovering from 3D hangovers. Should we approach 4K adoption more carefully? Adrian Penningtonreports
THE STAGGERED introduction of Ultra HD 4K production, distribution and display equipment risks fragmenting the market, adding unnecessary cost and yet again ending any chance of fielding a single, worldwide television standard. The issue is causing concern among many manufacturers. “It feels to us that there’s quite a scramble to create some kind of 4K service in terms of delivery,” says Nick Wright, CTO and co-founder of broadcast graphics systems vendor Pixel Power. “Because CE manufacturers can make cheap 4K displays and consumer grade cameras and optics, the momentum is gathering. But the needs of the wider industry are not necessarily represented by that sentiment; there’s an element of the tail wagging the dog. If the industry
Wright: “There’s an element of the tail wagging the dog”
first 4K products then “the entire industry ends up paying for the fragmentation that results for a very long time — just like the 720p/1080i split all over again.” He stresses: “We do think that 4K has the potential to be very disruptive if it’s not analysed properly. The danger is that people become fixated on the screen resolution at the expense of other important ideas. Nobody knows what 4K is yet: the standards aren’t agreed; we don’t know what people are going to adopt; we don’t know about the codecs, frame rate or audio. Are we missing an opportunity here to have a
doesn’t make a big enough step between whatever comes next and the HD we have now, consumers won’t see a compelling difference and won’t buy.” Wright also believes there’s a significant threat that if standardisation lags behind the
single, worldwide television standard again as this would be a major driver to reduce costs and perhaps more importantly reduce any confusion that could impact on consumer take up?”
Consumer risks The Digital TV Group (DTG) has also warned that the haphazard introduction of 4K Ultra HD TVs and services risks confusing consumers and harming market adoption. “The question is whether
you can drip feed Ultra HD to consumers or whether you need to make a step change in technology?” says DTG technology director, Simon Gauntlett. “Our view is that it’s best to make a step change, as from SD to HD where there was a clear leap up in resolution, colour, sound and performance.” The problem is that there are
different views as to what constitutes Ultra HD among content providers, broadcasters and TV set vendors. For example, the first tranche
of 4K content delivered to the home by services such as Netflix will be movies, which have a
“Nobody knows what 4K is yet: the standards aren’t agreed; we don’t know what people are going to adopt; we don’t know about the codecs, frame rate or audio”
Nick Wright, Pixel Power
standard frame rate of 24Hz. That is way below the threshold considered necessary by broadcasters before they launch Ultra HD services. The BBC for example wants to see 100-120Hz. Alongside higher frame rates
there is an increasing feeling that Ultra HD also requires greater brightness and colour to deliver a truly compelling viewing experience. These elements are only just being introduced to the production pipeline and cannot be displayed on existing UHD TV sets. Even the latest UHD sets with
updated connection standard HDMI 2.0 sacrifice 10-bit for 8-bit colour to accommodate higher frame rates. “Opinion is divided on
whether the industry should wait for that step change,” says Gauntlett. “Manufacturers are keen to sell new TVs that support some, though not all UHD specifications, and content providers don’t want to miss the boat. “Resolution is only noticeable
on large displays whereas higher frame rates and higher dynamic range and wider colour range
www.tvbeurope.com April 2014
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