laurence murphy, nigel linge, andrew daly DELIVERING TELEVISION TO THE HOME broadcast4K television in the uK has evolved signifi cantly from the early black and white analogue vhf service of the forties and fi fties. Today, viewers are increasingly watching television via the internet on their portable devices or smart Tvs and using merged media access methods like netfl ix and sKygo. but what next? laurence murphy, nigel linge and andrew dal explore the exciting developments already underway and examine the ramifi cations of 4K and 8K.

fter the early black and for UHD are being considered. The cancellation of their 3D channel and in white VHF service, the fi rst of these, 4K, uses a resolution July 2013 the BBC confi rmed that they next big advance came in of 3840×2160 pixels (approximately had no plans to use 3D technology 1964 with the launch of four times the resolution of full HD) after the end of a two year trial. Last analogue UHF services, and is likely to be accompanied by an year FIFA confi rmed that coverage of Ashortly followed by colour transmis- increase in frame rate in Europe to 100 the Football World Cup in Brazil 2014 sion and then in the 1980s satellite and frames per second. The second, 8K, would be prioritised for 2D, not 3D, cable television arrived. We moved to has a resolution of 7680×4380 pixels but that would include 4K acquisition high defi nition pictures in 2005/6, and (approximately 16 times the resolution and transmission. by October 2012 the digital switcho- of full HD) and is expected to increase The demise of 3D as a mainstream ver had been completed. Having gone the frame rate even further; eventually service has most defi nitely left the in- through so many changes over the reaching 120 frames per second with dustry looking for a new premium ser- past decades, we fi nd ourselves enhanced 22:2 . vice for which distributors and broad- once again on the brink of a new and The big loser in this move to UHD casters can grow market potential. In signifi cant development in television is 3D. In 2011/12 the industry was that respect, 4K appears to be it but with the advent of ultra high defi ni- considering supporting 3D as the next the challenges, as always, are how tion (UHD). signifi cant widespread step in the to: produce content that truly exploits High defi nition (HD) transmission evolution of television. However, a its capabilities that viewers want to in Europe currently offers a picture lack of confi dence in its market pen- watch, provide the means by which resolution of 1920 pixels x 1080 pixels etration and a limited scope for pro- UHD can be displayed and crucially, transmitted at 25 or 50 frames per sec- gramme production has led the sports determine how UHD services can be ond. Meanwhile two new standards broadcaster ESPN to announce the delivered to our homes.

40 | Volume 7 Part 3 • 2013 THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONALS

The practicalities of in which each frame is scanned and requirements for the transmission of a delivering 4K and beyond transmitted in its entirety. HD television are significantly reduced The resolution of a A HD TV transmission at 25 down to between 3 and 17Mbit/s. picture is determined by the num- frames per second generates a huge During the London 2012 Olympics, ber of picture elements or pixels data rate requirement of 622Mbit/s. the BBC in partnership with Nippon that make up each frame. Current However, this figure ignores one very Hoso Kyokai (NHK) (the Japan Broad- HD uses over two million pixels or- important aspect of a moving picture casting Corporation) transmitted cov- ganised as an array of 1920 pixels and that is the amount of redundant erage of the games in 8K to theatres horizontally by 1080 pixels vertical- information it contains. Except for located in BBC , ly (16:9 ). Each of these where there is rapid movement or a the National Media Museum in Brad- pixels is then converted into a digital sudden scene change, there can be a ford and BBC Studios in number which represents its colour lot of commonality between one frame with two International sites, and luminance properties. Up to 24 of a television picture and the next. An one in the USA and the other in Japan. bits can be used to represent each object that does not move from one Three 8K TV cameras were deployed pixel which results in almost 50 mil- frame to the next need not be trans- within the Olympic Park and the re- lion bits of digital information for mitted each time a frame is sent. Rec- sulting 24Gbit/s uncompressed HD frame. Movement in a tele- ognising this and encoding a picture data streams were sent over fibre op- vision picture, like that in cinema, is so that only movement is transmit- tic cable links to BBC Television Cen- achieved by transmitting a series of ted is the essence of the video codec tre. From there the data was encoded frames at regular intervals. The num- (COder / DECoder). using H.264 to produce two Internet ber of frames transmitted per second A codec must therefore analyse the Protocol data streams that resulted in is therefore important for this ensures frames comprising a television picture a combined data stream of 350Mbit/s that movement is naturally and faith- and identify those elements which which was carried over the SuperJA- fully reproduced; a higher frame rate are common within a frame (spatial NET national network to Bradford and being needed for rapid action. redundancy) and those that are com- Glasgow. There are two basic methods for mon between frames (temporal re- These data rates and dedicated transmitting each television frame, in- dundancy). Often referred to as video network connections are both unre- terlaced () and progressive (p). With compression, the use of a video codec alistic for the delivery of UHD TV to interlaced transmission, the image is massively reduces the amount of data our homes but a new codec has been scanned line by line in two passes to that needs to be transmitted. The co- developed that could change that. A make one frame. Field one comprises dec relies on the creation of reference successor to H.264 is the ITU's H.265 the odd lines and field two the even frames, the integration of error cor- HEVC (High Efficiency Video Cod- lines. Whilst this reduces the amount rection and in the case of moving ele- ing) standard [2]. Finalised in June of data that needs to be transmitted it ments, motion prediction. One of the 2013, it is predicted to offer data can result in picture blurring when fast most commonly used codecs for the compression rates double those of moving action is being shown. The transmission of HD is H.264 / MPEG4 H.264 which could result in a data time delay between the odd field and AVC (Moving Picture Experts Group requirement for the transmission of the even field also injects errors into ) which was 4K UHD television as low as 9Mbit/s; the process. This problem is overcome, developed by the International Tele- that is at rates lower than those cur- albeit with a resulting higher data communications Union (ITU) in 2003 rently being used for the transmis- rate, with progressive transmission [1]. Using this standard, the data sion of HD TV using H.264.

Volume 7 Part 3 • 2013 | 41 or high defi nition television as the It is unlikely that will allow resultant picture would become too the creation of another HD dedicated blurry to be of use. multiplex for transmission of HD, let alone a 4K multiplex. What is highly The delivery opTions likely is that the adoption of H.265 There are three prime ways in which across all the multiplexes, with the television can be delivered to our resulting effi ciencies and bandwidth homes: terrestrial transmission economies - may allow for the future through an aerial, satellite transmis- delivery of 4K by terrestrial in the UK. sion and via the Internet. The devel- Satellite - Within the UK there are opment of the H.265 codec offers the already over seventy HD 1080i TV potential to deliver 4K to our homes channels available via satellite. using all three of these delivery In April 2013 European based methods. satellite operator SES successfully Terrestrial - Freeview HD became transmitted 4K television via the As- the fi rst operational service in the tra satellite using H.265 with a data The RED Epic-M and EPic-X world to deliver HD using Digital rate of 20Mbit/s using the Digital cameras have a 5K resolution Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial Sec- Video Broadcasting Satellite Second ond Generation (DVB-T2) when it Generation (DVB-S2) transmission viewing paradigms launched in December 2009. It en- standard. Meanwhile, Japan's Min- The delivery of 4K UHD TV to our codes the picture using H.264 and istry of Internal Affairs and Com- homes will change how we watch delivers an HD channel within a 3 to munication aims to become by July programmes and bring with it new 17Mbit/s data stream. Radio frequen- 2014 the World's fi rst country to be viewing paradigms which broadly fi t cy capacity in the UK currently exists broadcasting in 4K using their CS into the following categories. for the transmission of fi ve HD terres- satellite system. The plan is that this “Sit-back” viewing will allow con- trial channels and as a result of the will be followed in 2016 by a trial of ventional viewing to be experienced completion of the digital switchover, 8K broadcasts by NHK. in more detail. This is the most ob- telecommunications regulator Ofcom The availability of transmission vious implementation of 4K technol- has announced the possibility of re- capacity therefore makes satellite an ogy, and will give a greater sense leasing spectrum for the provision of obvious choice to enable 4K distri- of realism to the images viewed on a further 10 HD channels. bution. conventional stand- or wall-mounted South Korea is leading the way for Internet (Broadband) - In June televisions. terrestrial 4K transmission with a re- 2013 Japanese telecommunications Interestingly, the increased resolu- cent demonstration at the 23rd Korea company NTT West completed the tion of 4K also makes viewing more International Broadcast, Audio and world's fi rst trial of streaming 4K comfortable at closer distances be- Lighting Equipment Show in May UHD TV over the Internet at cause of the smaller pixel size. There- 2013 by the Korean Broadcasting Sys- using H.265. Whilst average domes- fore, you don't need a massive 80 tem and LG. This system used H.265 tic broadband access speeds in Ja- inch screen or to live in a mansion to over DVB-T2 to deliver 4K UHD at 60 pan are higher than those in the UK, enjoy 4K. frames per second within a 35Mbit/s the performance of the H.265 codec “Lean forward” viewing is the data stream. does make the delivery of 4K in the complement to “sit-back” viewing UK a real possibility for many house- whereby content is consumed on a Manufac- Model Scree size holds. device with a screen signifi cantly turer (diagonal) According to Ofcom, the aver- smaller than a television, such as a Sony KD-84X9005 84 inches age UK broadband speed reached tablet or laptop. Such devices would KD-65X9000A 65 inches 12Mbit/s in November 2012 with be well suited to displaying 4K con- KD-55X9000A 55 inches 13% of residential broadband con- tent, since the viewing distance LG 84LM9600 84 inches nections being on superfast services would usually be small enough for 66LA9700 65 inches that offered an average download the eye to resolve the increase in 55LA9700 55 inches rate of 44.6Mbit/s. The growth in resolution, despite the small screen Samsung S9 85 inches superfast services has been driven size. UE65F9000 65 inches by the deployment of Fibre to the- UE55F9000 55 inches Quadrant focus allows areas of the Cabinet technologies - although the screen to display a level of - Toshiba REGZA L9300 84 inches limitation remains the fact that ex- series 65 inches tion which was previously unavail- 58 inches isting copper is used to provide the able. For example, the user will be fi nal connection to the customer. Sharp Aquos LC-70UD1 70 inch able to focus on a particular quadrant Whilst delivering fi bre all the way of the screen and expand/zoom the Panasonic OLED 56 inch to each customer's home may offer image out to examine a part of the a solution, and indeed volume distri- picture in more detail. This action Table 1: Example range of 4K UHD TVs bution of 4K and 8K may become a would not be possible on a standard now on the market. driver for it, no telecommunications

42 | Volume 7 Part 3 • 2013 THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONALS

the RED Epic-M and Epic-X cameras1 have a 5K resolution (5120 x 2700) and were used to shoot the Hobbit trilogy, Canon's EOS C5002 operates at 4K and Sony's F653 operates at . Sony's 4K Ultra HD Media Player already comes preloaded with 10 fea- ture films in true 4K and its soon- to-be-launched Video Unlimited 4K will offer the World’s first and only network video service that gives access to a library of full-length 4K UHD feature films and TV shows, ex- pected to extend to over 100 titles by Director Peter Jackson chose 5k for The Hobbit:an unexpected the end of 2013. Each of these can be journey, shooting up to 120 frames per second. downloaded and stored on the Me- dia Player's 2TB hard disk. company has yet developed a busi- Service Provider networks too. are already experimenting with 4K ness case that can justify the esti- One further development in In- streamed delivery over their back- mated £30billion cost of nationwide ternet access is that of 4G mobile bone as illustrated at the National deployment. networks. The recent demonstra- Association of Broadcasters Show in There are techniques, however, tion by EE of a 94Mbit/s download Las Vegas earlier this year. which can be used to squeeze even capability via their live 4G network At the 2013 Consumer Electronics higher capacities out of the UK's cop- also opens up the possibility of the Show held in Las Vegas, 4K UHD TVs per access network. The most prom- mobile phone network as a future dominated the show. Some commen- ising is ITU standard G.993.5 which delivery mechanism for 4K. tators likened 4K to the step change adopts a technique similar to that When considering the delivery of that people experienced moving from used within noise cancelling head- 4K UHD TV over terrestrial, satellite standard definition to high definition. phones, where digital signal pro- and the Internet, it has been assumed The higher number of pixels within cessing within the street cabinet is that the prime delivery mechanism is a 4K UHD picture does naturally fa- used to massively reduce cross-talk one of real time streaming. However, cilitate even larger screens and these over the local copper pairs. Known a second option is to download 4K were well represented by a range of as vectoring, this technique makes content for delayed viewing as cur- 84 inch televisions. However, there the prospect of 100Mbit/s download rently used, for example, in the ter- is a growing acceptance that screens capacities a reality for many homes restrial topup tv service. Download- between 55 and 65 inches across the in the UK over the existing copper ing of content can be automatically diagonal will become the mass mar- infrastructure [3]. Thereafter ITU's managed by a set top box during the ket product. The ideal viewing dis- emerging G.Fast standard, which off peak period, which reduces the tance for this size is between 1.5 and takes advantage of fibre being de- load on the network, requires less 2m which is the same as that recom- ployed beyond the street cabinet transmission capacity and minimises mended for a smaller 35 inch HD to the distribution point, can of- the investment that operators must TV. Sitting closer to a larger screen fer significantly higher bandwidth make in additional equipment and/ is comfortable because the pixels on over short copper lengths as dem- or spectrum. a 4K UHD TV are four times smaller onstrated in July 2013 by Telekom than on a HD TV and therefore hard- Austria working in partnership with Programmes and er to discern which leads to a more Alcatel Lucent where 1.1Gbit/s was televisions immersive experience. Most of the achieved over a 70m good qual- The momentum behind a move to major television and media manu- ity copper line and 800Mbit/s over 4K is most definitely gathering pace. factures are now offering products 100m, dropping to 500Mbit/s over The BBC's Natural History Unit are within this range of screen sizes as 60m when lower grade lines were filming Survival, an epic six part se- shown in Table 1. Industry research tested. ries, in 4K UHD. Peter Jackson's The specialists NPD DisplaySearch are Technology therefore exists to en- Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was predicting that 500,000 4K TVs will able a broadband connection to han- actually shot in 5K and many USA be sold worldwide this year rising to dle the delivery of multiple 4K UHD film studios are investing in the res- over 7 million by 2016. However, as TV streams to our homes and indeed toration of their 35mm back cata- always with new technology, prices the future delivery of 8K. However, logues into 4K. begin very high before mass market the broadband connection is only Today's film, television and me- sales drive them down. As a typi- one link in the delivery chain and the dia industry has an expanding range cal example, Sony's 55 inch 4K UHD large scale distribution of 4K and 8K of camera technology available for TV is currently retailing at £4,000 in will have implications for Internet this new UHD format. For example, the UK.

Volume 7 Part 3 • 2013 | 43 Authors’ conclusions

The development and launch of 4K UHD TV is most As with many developments in television, sport acts as definitely gathering pace with broadcasters gearing up a catalyst and no doubt the 2016 Olympics are likely to to produce programmes in 4K, camera and television be a big moment for UHD. Equally, the gaming and manufacturers releasing a growing range of products and home cinema markets are also important and they too the distribution companies testing H.265 encoded trans- may be the catalyst which propels 4K as a premium missions over terrestrial, satellite and Internet delivery sought after technology. The industry has learned the platforms. However, there is still a long way to go before hard way with 3D and they know that without the a widespread 4K UHD television service becomes a real- public's engagement no matter how radical or inter- ity for the masses. Nevertheless this is a very rapidly esting the technology, user acceptance and economic moving landscape that is expected to evolve significantly drivers will ultimately be the factors that curtail its as we move towards the end of 2013 and into 2014. implementation.

Abbreviations R eferences URLs last accessed on 2 Aug 2013 DVB-T2 Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial Second Generation 1. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC- HD High Definition H.264-201304-I/en ITU International Telecommunications Union NHK Nippon Hoso Kyokai 2. http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC- UHD Ultra High Definition H.265-201304-I 3. Marshall, J., and Benchaim,D. The rural challenge for high FOOTNOTES speed broadband. Journal of the Institute of Telecommunications 1 See http://www.red.com/products Professionals, Vol 7(2), June 2 See http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Digital_Cin- 2013 ema/Cinema_EOS_Cameras/EOS_C500_PL/ 3 See http://www.sony.co.uk/pro/product/broadcast-products-cam- corders-digital-motion-picture-camera/f65/overvie

About the authors

Laurence Murphy is Senior Lecturer in Media Technology and leads the BSc Media Technol- ogy Degree programme at MediaCityUK, University of Salford. He is an active researcher in urphy

M high definition advanced television systems for 4K, 8K & 3D and is currently engaged in PhD research into changing media technologies and their impact on the broadcasters, the viewers and the manufacturers. He is also an active camera and engineering consultant for a number of broadcast companies and manufacturers. aurence aurence L

Nigel Linge is Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Salford. He specialises in computer networks and their applications and has research interests that cover location inge

L and context based services, communication protocols, the delivery of multimedia applications, network design and the use of networks for sensing. In addition, he takes a keen interest in

igel telecommunications heritage and is actively engaged in public engagement. He is a member N of the ITP.

Andrew Daly is a Lead Consultant at Analysys Mason. He joined Analysys Mason in 2007 and y

al specialises in the areas of broadband costing, technology and policy development. Andrew's ex- D pertise includes network cost modelling, regulatory analysis, government policy development, and the capabilities of next-generation fixed and wireless access networks. Andrew advises regulators, local authorities, governments and operators on topics such as fibre-to-the-cabinet ndrew

A and fibre-to-the-home deployments, and the roll-out of 4G wireless technologies.

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