TranSPORT 2018: Live 4K, HDR Transmission on the Rise, But Challenges Remain Aldea, Dome Productions, Fox Networks, fuboTV, and SES discuss the state of the 4K/HDR ecosystem By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - 3:24 pm
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Over the past three years, delivery of live 4K UHD sports content to the home has become commonplace in the U.S. and Canada, as well in Europe. And live HDR (in both 4K and 1080p) productions have increased in 2018, thanks to the efforts of a handful of broadcasters and streaming outlets. However, major challenges still remain on both the 4K and HDR fronts when it comes to transmission and delivery of these events.
TranSPORT UHD Delivery panel: (from left) Aldea Solutions' Lionel Bentolila, SES Video's Steve Corda, Dome Productions' Mike Johnson, fuboTV's Geir Magnusson Jr., Fox Networks NE&O's Kelly Miller
At this month's SVG TranSPORT event in New York City, industry leaders spanning the 4K HDR ecosystem - Aldea, Dome Productions, Fox Networks, fuboTV, and SES - took the stage to address the hurdles that remain in creating an end-to-end 4K HDR ecosystem, how this could impact the broadcast center, and what to expect over the next 12 months.
Dome Productions Is Leading the 4K Charge
Dome Productions has driven the technological innovation behind the sports-fueled 4K push made in Canada by Bell Media and Rogers (which co-own Dome Productions) over the past three years. In January 2016, Rogers's Sportsnet and Bell Media's TSN began producing NBA and NHL games in 4K, and, in 2016, Rogers delivered all Toronto Blue Jays home games in 4K. Dome has now produced more than 600 MLB, NBA, and NHL games in that resolution.
In addition, Dome Productions has begun exploring live HDR production on several sports events, including working with Concom and DirecTV on the 4K HDR production of UFC 229 earlier this month.
When we first got into 4K, there was that promise of HDR, and we wanted to take a very serious look at that. Our ownership were very keen on where that could go, so we certainly dove in as much as we could. The technology is definitely interesting, said Mike Johnson, senior director, engineering, Dome Productions. Getting to 4K was relatively easy - we have a good routine, and we deliver that regularly - but HDR continues to be a bit of a challenge in terms of that end-to-end solution. Producing it is one thing, but getting it out there is quite another.
In terms of remaining challenges for 4K production, the payload increase from a 1.5-Gbps signal for HD to 12-Gbps for 4K has posed several hurdles for Dome's facilities, especially in the replay room. Dome's initial 4K productions featured 4K-native replays, but it quickly shifted to producing them in HD and upconverting them because the channels available in a native-4K model are limited. Meanwhile, Dome's 4K-compression workflow has seen a significant improvement due to the introduction of HEVC.
On a compression and delivery side, we started [by delivering] in a quad delivery: four synchronous MPEG-4 streams. That was problematic on a lot of levels [because] we would get quad displacement, said Johnson. So we were really looking forward to an HEVC solution, which came this year. We are now using the Ericsson HEVC, encoder, and it's been terrific.
4K Set-Top Boxes, Compelling Content Are Key to Demand
The SES Ultra HD platform, which launched in 2015, is currently the largest 4K linear-TV offering in North America and has delivered several major sports events, including the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. The platform offers 10 full-time channels, including an events channel, distributed to about 40 MVPDs across North America, representing roughly 50 million customers.
From left: Aldea Solutions' Lionel Bentolila, SES Video's Steve Corda, and Dome Productions' Mike Johnson
During extensive testing of 4K-content distribution, SES experimented with various formats and types of content. After early industry concerns that distributing 4K content in MPEG-4 would require a whopping 50-100 Mbps, SES has settled on about 18 Mbps for non-live sports content using HEVC.
That [18-Mbps data rate] has been well-received by all the cable distributors because it fits very well in a 6-MHz channel. So that was the starting point, said Steve Corda, VP, media platforms, North America, SES Video. More recently, with live sports, we have found that we want to bump that up a little bit to about 20-22 Mbps. You get into a law of diminishing returns when you get above that. That puts a little bit more stress on the cable systems as you get into the higher rates, so they have to groom their plant accordingly to be able to fit that in.
Corda added that two major factors will be the primary drivers of 4K adoption and demand by MVPDs: increased distribution of 4K-capable set-top boxes to the home and more compelling 4K content, especially live sports content.
For two to three years, we've been waiting to see mass deployments [of 4K set-top boxes], and I think we're starting to finally see that happen with a couple hundred thousand boxes being [distributed] out by the Tier 1 and Tier 2 [cable operators], he said. And then it's about compelling content. Every time we talk to an MVPD, they want to know what is being broadcast [in 4K], what is the genre and the quality. And they ask a lot for sports; that is the compelling content. Now that we are seeing additional sports on our platform, we are starting to get an additional pull from the MVPDs. The compelling content is probably the biggest driver in building up the demand.
Fox Sports Continues To Ramp Up 4K Efforts
Fox Sports has also played a major role in development of 4K, producing many MLB and college football and ba
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