July 2014 www.tvbeurope.com


TVBEurope 33 4K: Beyond HD


Stephan Heimbecher, Sky Deutschland: “People are very well aware of UHD but they are also well aware of the lack of UHD content”


Sports in 4K


ALISON HUTCHINS, senior propositions manager at BT Media and Broadcast, discussed the company’s recent experiences with 4K. In June last year, BT was asked to broadcast complex UHD content encoded live, transmitted internationally and shown on large UHD displays to audiences at the IBC show in Amsterdam. Along with partners Ericsson, Sony, Telegenic, Intelsat, Newtec, BT Media and Broadcast produced two demonstrations at the trade show. The first was a pre-recorded football match looped and played out from BT Tower for the duration of the show. Then on Sunday it switched to a Saracens versus Gloucester rugby match produced and transmitted live from the stadium in North West London to the IBC show for the duration of the match.


The demos showed that UHD looks great for sports content and Hutchins said the BT network handled the signals easily. The biggest challenges were in production such as understanding how to shoot the match with just three cameras and how the encoders deal with fast moving action at 60fps. As one of the partner companies, Ericsson’s Fabio Murra, head of TV compression product marketing, discussed what consumers are looking for from 4K. “What consumers will be willing to pay for is a better TV experience than what we have today in HD services.” He also reiterated the importance of immersion and a better sense of realism of being there. “Larger screens today are possible and will fill 60 per cent of our field of vision giving us a more immersive experience.”


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