ASTRA UHD conference
'The consumer needs to see the value' Standards, signals and sales were all on the agenda at ASTRA’s third UHD conference. Gregor Muir went along to find out the latest industry positions
T
he TechUK offices on St Bride Street in London played host to the ASTRA UHD conference on June 14. The
event gathered figures from production, distribution, the creative industries and retail to discuss the current UHD (Ultra High Definition) picture, and where it goes from here.
ASTRA (GB) managing director Mike Chandler welcomed attendees to the satellite company’s third conference. He was joined by SES reception systems vice president Thomas Wrede who highlighted the growth in UHD signal distribution; there are now 33 unique UHD channels across 10 operators available by satellite, and 29 million homes worldwide now own a UHD TV set. He added: “HDR (High Dynamic Range) is
absolutely the big topic for UHD. All the big manufacturers are highlighting and marketing HDR to the end consumer and that will make consumers buy.” He continued: “The OTT [over-the-top content]
providers are working with manufacturers. Traditional broadcasters need to catch up.” Highlighting the market trends in more detail was GfK consumer electronics account director Nick Simon. “Six months ago, I made a forecast – that
three million UHD sets would be sold in 2017,” he said. “I’m revising that down slightly, but it’s amazing we’re as far on as we are given the content available.” There has been slight volume growth in the
general TV market, he added, although the total remains a lot smaller than at the end of the last decade; six million units annually is the norm now. There has also been a significant shift towards
large screen sizes; the sub 40in sizes are declining year on year but 40in and above are all growing. Retailers are selling 60in plus TVs – almost all of which are UHD. The UHD TV volume share of the market is just below 30% in 2016, he added, but UHD value share is now 54%. Part of that is due to an increase of available models, with 343 models in 2015 and 370 so far in 2016 with launches still coming. Prices have also been dropping; there has been an average price drop of 29% from January 2015 to April 2016. Nick added: “Without UHD, I don’t think
we’d have seen that increase in screen sizes. Being married to smart TV helps and consumer knowledge is growing. Price erosion has also been significant.”
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www.innovativeelectricalretailing.co.uk He added: “By the end of 2017, more than
five million 4K TVs will have been sold in the UK. However, there is still confusion between 4K and UHD at consumer level.” Love Nature International (Blue Skye
Entertainment) managing director Jo Parkinson and TERN International COO Rian Bester highlighted that UHD has been a learning process for content producers. Rian said: “It’s a big difference to HD, the camerawork, storage, production – everything in the chain is affected. Finding the equipment to be able to do it is a challenge too.” He added: “Would consumers pay for UHD
content? It’s hard to know with no benchmark.” Ericcson senior vice president technology
Matthew Goldman gave his advice on using UHD as a differentiator. “The TV media industry has changed, how
content reaches consumers has shifted,” he said. “You have new entrants to the market, and the established players are all jockeying for position. The focus for any broadcaster needs to be on the consumer.” As satellite coverage rolls out, Matthew
recommended looking at an ‘HDR+’ position, combining image resolution, HDR, wide colour gamut, 10-bit sampling and a high frame rate. He added that standards need to be finalised quickly so that broadcasters can get on air sooner rather than later. He also noted that many consumers
wouldn’t see the benefits of UHD unless they were educated properly in terms of the correct viewing distance (about half that of HD), and of the differences between 4K and UHD. “The consumer needs to see the value,” he said. Matthew was then joined by Harmonic
emerging technology and strategy senior director Ian Trow, Technicolor senior product director Teddy Florent and Snell Adv. Media head of product marketing Tim Felstead to discuss some of the finer points of the technology. Among the challenges highlighted was that
different schemes are awkward for consumers and manufacturers. For manufacturers, a decision must be made whether to adopt early and commit to one HDR technology or wait, and for consumers there is a danger that a TV bought today might not handle signal distribution standards in two years. They also noted that the TV market sought, and gained, attention with the ‘4K’ message, but before standards had been set and the market was necessarily ready.
“We suffered with 3D, but did people
learn?” said Matthew. “First we had glasses, then passive 3D, which worked to different standards. By the time we came up with compatible kit, 3D was dead.” The panel also warned that the longer
screens go in, with consumers ‘buying the dream’, the harder it is to implement a service. There are going to be islands of equipment with different standards and setups, and the challenge for any broadcaster entering the market will be to make those work. The next panel featured those working on
the creative side of the industry, with The Farm Group managing director David ‘Klaf’ Klafkowski, Clear Cut Pictures technical director Jess Nottage and Sony Professional strategic technology development manager Peter Sykes. “Last year there was lots of talk, but no real means of distribution for UHD content,” David said. “Amazon and Netflix have changed the market, because it’s new content.” He added: “There is a challenge in that there is lots more data. Volume shifting is not easy. It affects the handling, logging, the work flow, but we’re getting better at that now.” Jess added: “Some people were acquiring UHD content for use in HD delivery last year. Now we’re seeing more actually being delivered as UHD content.” Peter highlighted the fact Sony has been running training on its UHD cameras at
Hughes Electrical managing director Robert Hughes believes customers are more interested in screen size or design than UHD picture quality
July/August 2016
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