SVG Sit-Down: SES's Thomas Wrede on MX1 360, OU Flex, Future of UHD Sports Content Growth in HDR and HFR will be driven by growth in screen tech By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 2:24 pm
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SES and its subsidiary MX1 had a busy IBC 2018 in Amsterdam last month, rolling out a bevy of eye-catching demos, highlighting their primary transmission platforms for M&E, and announcing new partnerships with broadcasters and content creators. At its booth, SES erected a massive screen set up with commercial live customer UHD feeds, highlighted its MX1 360 unified media platform and MX1's OU Flex product, and announced new deals with QVC and Channel 4 in the UK, Kiwisat in the Caribbean, and Insight TV in Latin America.
SES's Thomas Wrede: As video-content production snowballs in 2019, it is logical to assume broadcasters that have already begun with 4K will now start adopting HDR.
SVG sat down with SES VP, New Technology and Standards, Thomas Wrede to discuss the demos and announcements made at IBC, how he expects delivery of 4K and HDR content to evolve, satellite providers' role in the rapidly growing OTT and streaming market, and more.
What big announcements did SES make at IBC 2018, and what was demonstrated at the stand? Was it a successful show, and what were some highlights for you?
This year, we focused on the picture quality we deliver and the video services we provide. For the first, we had a large screen set up with commercial live customer Ultra HD feeds, which are really powerful to see first-hand. For the second, our services, we had an area where customers could experience our MX1 360, the unified media platform from our subsidiary MX1. MX1 360 gives customers the power to manage and deliver linear and non-linear content to any broadcast, VOD, or OTT platform.
We also had a demo of MX1's OU Flex product, which gives broadcasters the ability to distribute their live feeds with satellite while using the same connection to feed OTT platforms and use internet services. In fact, this product has since been improved upon. A new partnership between MX1 and Smart Media Labs announced at IBC meant that the new OU Flex can connect smartphones and mobile cameras at live events. This will give sports fans an even more immersive experience as it will allow them to watch close-ups of the action on their smartphone while sitting in a stadium.
Other announcements included how our customers QVC and Channel 4 in the UK continue to leverage our premium neighborhood of 28.2/28.5 degrees East for broadcasting service. Meanwhile, Caribbean viewers are benefiting from extended content offers: our customer Kiwisat upped their channels by 50% just six months into operations. The broader Latin American audiences will also be able to view Insight TV's 4K offering of adventure and extreme-sports content, using the newly launched SES Latin American UHD platform.
We are seeing increased interest in 1080p HDR - either instead of 4K HDR or upconverting 1080p HDR to 4K - in the U.S. sports business. Have you seen this trend, and what is SES's reaction to it?
We are definitely familiar with this trend and also see broadcasters discussing the use of 1080p HDR instead of 4K. This is based on the belief that the end consumer cannot actually recognize the difference between 1080p HDR and true 4K, but going down this path presents issues in two different areas.
The first is consumer confidence. When a person goes into a shop and invests in the latest 4K TV-screen technology, it necessarily follows that they want 4K content. The problem then comes when they discover that the content they are receiving is only in 1080p instead of 2160p. It is a bit like buying a powerful car and then finding out all the roads in your state have a speed limit of 55 mph.
The second is how it translates to content. For viewing the latest Hollywood blockbuster or serial drama, it might not actually make a huge difference: the cinematography for dramatic formats doesn't necessarily push the technological envelope. Sports is a whole other matter. When a viewer sits down in front of their screen to watch a live game, the advantage that you can get from the 4K resolution is clear. When you are dealing with 2160p, the depth of field is dramatically different from that of 1080p, and, despite assumptions to the contrary, the consumer who buys a 4K screen can understand this.
Based on these two factors we always encourage sourcing native 4K content as much as possible, as well as broadcasting in 4K. To facilitate this in the U.S., we created a dedicated Ultra HD platform in 2015, which combines UHD content, satellite transmission, playout services, and reception equipment. The platform is now home to the world's largest single bouquet of linear 4K UHD, and we have taken this approach and created the Latin American Ultra HD platform.
How do you see the 4K HDR transmission/contribution ecosystem evolving, and do you believe 2019 will be a big year for 4K HDR?
The ecosystem continues to evolve, and already the majority of our customers are using HLG [hybrid log gamma] technology as their preferred standard for broadcasting HDR. Yet, as screen technology advances, it is also becoming common for the TV screen itself to manage the variety of HDR-transmission technologies that still exist. This is minimizing compatibility issues and opening up the market for more and more broadcasters to use HDR.
As video-content production snowballs in 2019, it is logical to assume broadcasters that have already begun with 4K will now start adopting HDR. We expect this in particular for European pay-TV providers, who should see HDR as a new way to differentiate as 4K becomes mainstream. Our customer Travelxp launched the world's first 4K Ultra HD channel in
