Harmonic Powers Industry Leading 4K Ultra HD Demonstrations During CES

(07/01/2014) Harmonic, a worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure, today announced that it will power multiple end-to-end transmission demonstrations of 4K Ultra HD during the 2014 International CES, Jan. 7-10, in Las Vegas. Harmonic will showcase the amazing picture quality of the new format on Ultra HD TVs and set-top boxes (STBs) with its partners, industry leaders Broadcom Corporation, Sigma Designs, and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Harmonic continues to push the limits of currently available technologies to be a driving force behind 4K Ultra HD technology development and its worldwide acceptance, said Thierry Fautier, vice president, solutions marketing at Harmonic. At CES, Harmonic and its technology partners will perform several groundbreaking demonstrations of real-world Ultra HD, showing how HEVC delivery of Ultra HD content can easily be achieved to enhance the quality of video content on a wide range of consumer devices.

Highlights include:

The first standards-compliant live 4K Ultra HD 30-Hz broadcast workflow, powered by Harmonic ProMedia Xpress high-performance file-based transcoding software and decoded by Broadcoms latest BCM7445-based STB, will be shown at Broadcoms private booth in CES Meeting Place MP25966. Demonstrations by appointment only.

The first 4K Ultra HD 120-Hz broadcast workflow, also powered by Harmonic ProMedia Xpress transcoding software. The transcoded UHD 24/30/60 fps content will be played back on Sigma Designs 120-Hz Ultra HD Platform. Sigmas Ultra HD TV Chipset uses only two chips, a SX6 UHD TV Application Processor and a FRCX Video Processor, to build a high performance and cost effective 120-Hz Ultra HD TV that will be shown at Sigma Designs suite 2990 in the LVH - Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.

In addition to these demos, ProMedia Xpress is undergoing interoperability testing with 4K 60-Hz Samsung UHD TVs, which will be shown at booth 12004 in the Central Hall.

Over the past year Harmonic has led the industry in public demonstrations of 4K Ultra HD, most recently showcasing the first consumer-grade, end-to-end 4K 60-Hz broadcast-quality workflow at Inter BEE 2013 in Tokyo. Employing Harmonics HEVC technology, ProMedia Xpress transferred the 4K Ultra HD content to a high-end PC outfitted with a consumer-grade graphics card whereupon the content was played out onto a consumer-grade Panasonic 65-inch UHD TV at 60 fps, delivering the maximum potential of Ultra HD. While previous 4K 60-Hz demos have utilized expensive quad SDI systems to drive professional monitors, Harmonics solution demonstrates the delivery of high-quality 4K Ultra HD video in the most cost-effective and scalable manner possible.

ProMedia is the industrys most complete multiscreen preparation solution and the market share leader in multiscreen software transcoding. Key features for the ProMedia family of integrated software applications include support for MPEG-DASH adaptive bit-rate streaming, HEVC encoding and the 4K Ultra HD video format, as well as increased synergy with the Harmonic MediaGrid shared storage system for the delivery of time-shifted TV services.

By leveraging Harmonics expertise in video compression, storage, and transport, broadcasters and service providers gain the ability to distribute Ultra HD services simply, reliably, and cost-effectively. The companys integrated approach makes it possible to stream 4K Ultra HD VOD content, as well as transport stream channel playout, with hooks to digital rights management (DRM) and content management systems (CMS), over the Internet, and to deploy a linear Ultra HD channel over existing DTH, cable, and telco networks quickly. At the solutions heart are powerful Harmonic content-preparation systems, including the WFS file-based workflow engine, ProMedia Xpress file-based transcoder, ProMedia Origin streaming video server, and MediaGrid shared storage system.

Harmonic also worked with videographers Jacob and Katie Schwarz of Mystery Box Film to produce 4K Ultra HD content at locations around the world. This content is being licensed by Harmonic for use by third parties, and will be shown in the demonstrations at CES.

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