Home Entertainment ANALYSIS: SES ULTRA HD CONFERENCE
and Thomas Wrede (right) Mike Chandler (left)
July/August 2018
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menting with HDR, or launching HDR transmissions. As an industry, we discuss how easy it is and how quickly Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) can be integrated into workflows, but why are only a few broadcasters doing it? Where are the others, like Sky? There needs to be more work done to commer- cialise UHD – for nearly all of our customers, it is a challenge.
Q: What about 8K? TW: 8K is key – we did the first end-to-end, IP 8K transmission in a single satellite transponder in a DTH [direct-to-home] scenario during our SES Industry Days – it was 80 megabits per second and we had some stunning content on the latest Sharp 70in 8K display, which is now on the market. A lot of [TV] manufacturers have confirmed to me
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that their high-end models will soon have 8K panel technology. It’s an exciting future, although we see 8K in people’s homes, and generating revenue from our satellite system, being quite a few years away.
‘There needs to be more done to promote UHD in retail’
In an exclusive interview, satellite operator SES’s vice-president of new technology and standards, Thomas Wrede, and Mike Chandler, MD of SES Astra GB, give Sean Hannam an update on its UHD strategy and a glimpse of 8K…
form to South America, which is exciting – that will be an opportunity to kick-start South America with UHD.
Q: Can you tell us what’s new at SES? Thomas Wrede: The big new thing is that we are further implementing our strategy – we have divisions for SES Video and Networks. On the Video side, we are focus- ing on developing the emerging markets and getting platforms established, working with new broadcasters and increasing our satellite reach. On the Networks side, we’re getting new custom- ers – we have a contract with the US government to provide high-bandwidth using the O3b medium earth orbit satellites. There are lots of expectations in terms of business growth in Networks.
Our first quarter of 2018 saw growth, which was positive news for the company. We’re also building up Ultra HD – we are engaged with a lot of customers in trials to get some content on our own UHD platform. We announced at the NAB show [April 7-12, Las Vegas] that we have extended our North America plat-
Mike Chandler: The good thing about South America is that we’ll have a new satellite coming on board soon – SES 14, which will give us more capacity availability in late Q3 this year.
Q: So, when it comes to UHD content, things are moving in the right direction, aren’t they? TW: Absolutely – we have been able to augment a number of channels on satellite systems worldwide, including our competitors’. There are over 100 UHD channels – we have more than 40 on our fleet. We would like to see more customers rolling out High
Dynamic Range (HDR), improving the quality of what the viewer gets out of UHD. We have UHD broad- casting on satellite, but I’d like to see more broadcasters experi-
Q: What about UHD in retail? Is there still a need to raise its profile on the shopfloor? Are retailers demonstrating it enough? TW: I think it’s getting better – there needs to be more done to promote UHD and its features, like the wide colour gamut and HDR – I find that some of the set- tings and environments used at the point of sale are not really representative of the viewing conditions of a living room.
Mike Chandler: Independent dealers need to create their own [UHD] demonstration rooms. In retail, we need to see more choice of linear chan- nels that can be demonstrated in-store – not just the usual demo channels. We need to see a greater range, which will provide even more confidence for consum- ers to take that step forward. But there’s no doubt that UHD is rolling out well and there’s no stopping it.
Q: What about conflicting standards for UHD? Has the situation become clearer? TW: I think it’s clearer. However, when a consumer goes into a multiple retailer, the challenge is to realise what features they are getting when they’re putting their money on the table for a flat-screen TV if it’s a special offer – that’s something that we are complaining about. The salesperson can’t tell you about HLG and HDR, or what supports Dolby Vision. In the German market, we are discussing with trade associations about an HDR UHD label on the TV sets to give more confidence to consumers. You could buy a £500 UHD screen, but you maybe disappointed because your neighbour has a £1,500 model and a much better viewing experience.
Independent dealers need to create their own UHD demonstration rooms. We need to see more choice of linear channels that can be demonstrated in- store, which will provide even more confi dence for consumers to take that step forward
Mike Chandler, managing director, SES Astra GB
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