4K

An Elemental Live video processing system received high bitrate 4Kp60 AVC video in an MPEG-2 transport stream featuring content from a live soccer match between the Portland Timbers and the Seattle Sounders last month. The system encoded and delivered a 4Kp60 HEVC output to a PC-based decoder with a final rendering showing up on an 84-inch Planar 4K TV. 

The year 2013 may very well be remembered some day as the year when the 4K movement began, but will 2014 be the year it becomes reality? Is 4K destined to be the next 3D or the first 4K? The answer to that question will not be known for a few years, but one large factor may contribute its long-term success: the current inability to deliver 4K content via traditional broadcast, satellite, and cable/telco pipes.

Broadcasters attending this year’s event in New York City (Nov. 13-14) can easily fill their two-day schedule with sessions about how to deliver video to mobile devices, how to get ready for ATSC 3.0 and how to improve HD images in a 4K world.

Sports production professionals prefer 1080i for producing sports today, and more anticipate to build their future production trucks and studios in 3 Gbps/1080p, instead of 4K, according to a new survey sponsored by Miranda Technologies.

Picking up where it left off at the NAB Show, 4K was clearly a big trend at the IBC Show in Amsterdam. Most broadcasters agree that sports will kickoff the 4K craze, but what about local news at stations? I just don’t see it happening for a very, very long time.

At the IBC Show this week in Amsterdam, the DVB standards body is showing off one of the top priority goals of ATSC 3.0 using its DVB-T2 standard: A single terrestrial signal that’s robust enough to send a 4K broadcast to a television set and a lower-resolution broadcast to a mobile device.

The promise of smart televisions — packed with Internet connectivity, DVR functions and a myriad of other, often obscure bells and whistles — has in recent years been eclipsed by 4K picture quality. However, technical limitations have hindered the deployment of so-called true 4K — until now. On Thursday, the nonprofit HDMI Forum announced the release of HDMI 2.0, a new specification that will allow users to view 4K video at 60 frames per second as opposed to 30 fps, the previous limitation at 3,840 x 2,160 resolution in HDMI 1.4.

The PXW-Z100 Ultra HD handheld will be available toward the end of the year.

4K won’t get anyone excited if there’s no way to get the format into homes, or worse, if it looks no better than today’s HDTV.

The company’s Galaxy 13 satellite delivered a 4:2:2 10-bit, 4K signal at 60 frames per second to Turner Broadcasting’s facility in Atlanta.

The technology sometimes referred to as “Ultra HD” provides extraordinarily vivid images — sets offer four times the resolution of a conventional HDTV — and was all the rage at recent industry shows including CES and The Cable Show. But ordinary consumers probably won’t share executives’ enthusiasm according to a report today from Bernstein Research.

Sony and FIFA TV will test run the Ultra HD technology at three matches, to help decide whether it will be employed at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The cable sports giant is building a brand new, massive sports production center that Chief Technology Officer Chuck Pagano says will be future proof — able to handle upcoming 4K and 8K production. And he’s also keeping an eye on what’s going on in the broadcast TV world, especially the development of ATSC 3.0 and the pending FCC spectrum auction.

While U.S. TV programming networks are close to transitioning to the new 4K TV technology, none has specific plans to air programming in 4K. Still, Sony Electronics has started a marketing campaign for its new 4K Ultra HD TV sets today.

Rumor has it that Apple plans on releasing a 4K “ultra HD” television set in late 2013 or early 2014. The smart TV would feature a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 and include voice and motion control functions.

Vizrt plans to show off the 4K rendering capabilities of its flagship Viz Engine 3D compositing system at this year’s NAB Show. Petter Ole Jakobsen, the company’s chief technology officer, talks about what broadcasters can expect to see from Vizrt at this year’s show.

This week Utah Scientific is showing off what we can expect to see at this year’s NAB Show: Lots of 4K applications. The routing and master control switchers manufacturer introduced […]

The Japanese government is set to launch the world’s first 4K TV broadcast in July 2014, roughly two years ahead of schedule, to help stir demand for ultra high-definition televisions, the Asahi newspaper reported on Sunday without citing sources.

As hyped as it’s been at this year’s CES, ultra high definition 4K television has been a technology searching for a reason to exist. But a panel Thursday agreed that UHD is essential for bringing the cinema experience into the home.

Shooting series in the new Ultra HD format is being tested, and so far it’s not proving to add time — or too much expense — to the process. Another major advantage: having a 4K master should pay dividends when the format becomes standard.

A panel at the Content and Communications World convention predict that within five or so years the TV industry will be equipped with the necessities — cameras, editing tools and graphics equipment, among them — to implement the use of 4K technologies.

The early-stage format offering resolution four times greater then HD will carry an industry-wide moniker of Ultra High-Definition or Ultra HD. The less flashy 4K will be shunted aside as a consumer term, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.