46
|
ISSUE 2 2013
|
THE CHANNEL
THE CHANNEL
|
MIDDLE EAST
The next TV revolution is on its way: it’s called Ultra HD or 4K.
And satellites will play a key role in its advent. Jean-François
Leprince-Ringuet, Eutelsat's Chief Commercial Officer,
explains the impact on TV broadcasting and digital cinema
s far as TV
broadcasting is
concerned, Ultra
HD is still at an
early stage, but
Eutelsat sees it as
the next logical
step in this sector. Unlike 3D, the
transition from HD to Ultra HD is
very similar to the one the TV
industry successfully initiated from
SD to HD during the last decade.
With resolution four times
higher than Full HD 1920 x 1080,
Ultra HD is a natural response to
the growing consumer appetite for
an enriched viewing experience.
Whether it is for reaching early
adopters today or large scale
audiences with commercial offers,
satellites are a privileged platform
for broadcasting Ultra HD content,
thanks to their bandwidth
availability and coverage. Satellites
are also a transparent transmission
media and are therefore already
Ultra HD ready.
It is worth recalling that Eutelsat
was the first satellite company to
launch a demonstration Ultra HD
(4K) channel in Europe and the
Middle East. Just as Eutelsat
supported HDTV tests a few years
ago, this initiative aims at helping
the TV industry to gather real‐
world experience in the production
and the transmission of 4K content.
DEMOCHANNEL
Our objective is to provide a
platform that enables manufacturers,
editors and broadcasters to test the
performance of their equipment
and the end‐to‐end chain. In
technical terms, our Ultra HD demo
channel is operated in Quad HD
(four Full HD streams i.e.
3840x2160 pixels) transmitted at 40
Mbit/s in MPEG‐4 AVC. We have
adopted this configuration as it
allows us to work in progressive
mode at 50 frames per second
which gives a heightened sense of
reality. The channel made its debut
in January this year, and interest
from content providers, set
manufacturers and pay‐TV
operators has been higher than
expected. In addition, we are also
investing in filming our own 4K
content to seed the market, before
Ultra HD starts to become a
commercial reality from the second
half of the decade.
Turning to the digital cinema
market, Hollywood studios are
already embracing 4K as the next
theatrical presentation format and
making eight megapixel 4K images
a new standard. For example, the
Andrew Jackson production
The
Hobbit
features 48 frames per
second to heighten the sense of
reality. Eutelsat is also active in this
market with a Digital Cinema
delivery network already deployed
on 700 screens in 20 European
countries. Cinemas are equipped to
A
4K-SATELLITESAREREADY
