Sinclair, Technicolor Demo Next-Gen Platform

Sinclair Broadcast Group and Technicolor say they delivered an industry first by successfully deploying Technicolor’s ATSC 3.0 4K UltraHD testbed platform in an over-the-air signal.

The Technicolor platform, based on open audio, video and transport standards including Scalable HEVC (SHVC), MPEG-H audio and MPEG-MMT transport, has been integrated into Sinclair’s experimental OFDM transmission system in Baltimore.

The companies say the technology will allow broadcasters to deliver “the highest quality content, inclusive of 4K UltraHD live broadcast, in a simultaneous transmission to consumers both at home and on-the-go.”

“Technicolor has created an integrated platform, not just a single component such as audio or video, which enables us to do real-world deployments and testing of this exciting next generation ATSC 3.0 technology,” said Vince Pizzica, senior executive vice president of corporate development and technology for Technicolor.

“Our testbed has been designed around open standards, with robustness in mind to ensure delivery of high quality programming to all devices. Transmitting over-the-air for a speed of 70 mph in a real-world scenario demonstrates our ‘systems approach’ to solving market and customer issues,” he added.

“Sinclair continues to work to bring future value to all broadcast stakeholders, a future where HDTV and new services can be reliably delivered to tablets and portable devices, and 4K UltraHD to our home audience,” said Mark Aitken, VP of advanced technology for Sinclair.

He continued: “These new revenue opportunities bring local broadcasters to the forefront of serving our local markets. Our viewers are increasingly mobile in all that they are engaged and the technologies we are demonstrating bring new alternatives in the delivery of media content to consumers.”

According to the companies, this is the first successful broadcast of SHVC compression anywhere in the world. This is also the first successful integration of MPEG-MMT A/V transport technology, which is enhanced with Technicolor’s fast channel change and staggercast technologies to ensure consumers do not lose audio capabilities even when reception and video are not seamless experiences.

All of these elements will work together to deploy the first ATSC 3.0 live experimental transmission in which live 4K scalable video and audio will be delivered over the air and live-streamed onto mobile devices.

Scalable HEVC translates bits from a network data stream into a picture by breaking up video bit streams into subsets that add layers of quality and resolution to video signals, the companies said. “Our platform allows us to flexibly adapt to sub-par network connections by dropping these bit stream subsets or packets in order to reduce the frame rate, resolution or bandwidth consumption of a picture, which prevents the picture from breaking up. For example, a mobile phone would receive only the base layer or bit stream while a high-definition TV or video conferencing console would receive both the base layer and bit stream subset or enhancement layer.”