High Technology Letters ISSN NO : 1006-6748

Evolution in the Development of Standards and Technology for 8K Ultra High Definition Television 2 (UHDTV2)

Dimov Stojce Ilcev

Space Science Centre (SSC), Durban University of Technology (DUT), Durban, South Africa, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: This article is introducing the development and design architecture of new digital 8K TV UHDTV2 or Super High Definition TV (SHDTV) standards as a part of the Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) solutions for the public and household applications. Beyond simply delivering a wider field of view, important factors such as color, tone rendition, and motion portrayal that could be crucial to delivering an enhanced visual experience with Next Generation Television (Next-Gen TV) 8K UHDTV2 system recently renamed as Super-Hi Vision (SHV). This new UHDTV standard and coding system important for the improvement of video quality with parameters will be investigated and the trial of 8K SVH transmission will be described.

Keywords: 8K TV UHDTV2, SHV, RGB, SHDTV, Full HDTV, 4K Ultra HDTV, AVC, MPEG-2, OFDM, MIMO

1. Introduction

The High Definition Television (HDTV) has become popular all over the world with the spread of digital broadcasting. In fact, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), which has been developing HDTV for many years, began work on the design and development of Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) in 1995 and has contributed to International Telecommunications Union-Radiocommunications (ITU) standards such as Recommendation BT.2020. This new format is expected to produce extremely realistic viewing sensations through the use of 4000 scanning line images with integrated Red, Green and Blue (RGB) color model and 22.2-multichannel sound. The latest Super Hi-Vision (SHV) format known as 8K, UHDTV2 or Super High Definition TV (SHDTV) standard is designed, which final target is to achieve a total immersive experience providing realistic visual and aural sensations so that the audience feels they are present at the scene. Beyond simply delivering a wider field of view for the new TV standards, important factors such as color and tone rendition and motion portrayal that could be crucial to delivering an enhanced visual experience with Next-Gen TV systems and their system parameters, including colorimetry and frame frequency. The proposed colorimetry system is based on the real RGB color system and has a color gamut that includes 99.9% of real surface colors while using physically realizable RGB primaries. In addition, a frame frequency of 120 Hz is proposed on the basis of subjective assessments of motion-picture quality. The Japanese NHK Company has been developing the SHV system as part of a project to deliver a viewing experience far beyond that possible with existing systems, which comparison of formats with previous TV standards are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Comparisons of Formats for SD, Full HD, Ultra HD (4K) and 8K TV Standards

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Figure 2. Total Number of Pixels per Frame

Therefore, except the 4K Ultra HDTV (UHDTV) as one of the two Ultra HDTV formats, the worldwide manufacturers are implementing the second newest UHDTV format known as 8K, UHDTV2, SHDTV or simply Super Hi-Vision (SHV) standard. In this article will be used new SHV accepted nomination worldwide, as a more practical term. Technically speaking, current 4K is not the same as 4K UHDTV standard. Namely consumer UHDTV resolution of 3840x2160 (at a 16:9, or 1.78:1 aspect ratio) differs from the industry 4K standard of 4096x2160 (at a 1.9:1 aspect ratio), namely there is small difference in size of TV display. As stated above, the standalone term “4K” was originally used to describe digital cinema (4096×2160 px). Since digital cinema resolution is not available in a consumer television, the term “Ultra HD” (3840×2160 px) and “4K UHDTV” (4096x2160) were invented. However, it has to be noticed that the slight reduction in 4K UHDTV resolution is to achieve a 16×9 aspect ratio. At this point, is important to find out the difference between all current definitions and new standards. The advantage of the 4K gives exactly four times the resolution of Full HDTV, which produces a magnificent image when viewed in person. The consumers will be doing themselves a great injustice if they try to gauge the clarity of a 4K screen using their computer or current Full HDTV, so they will not experience anything near the actual quality of 4K Ultra HDTVD. In the first stage of development, 4K Ultra HDTV displays are available today from several manufacturers, including Sony, Samsung and Seiki. Other known TV producers, like Sharp, Toshiba, Sony and HiSense began offering 4K Ultra HDTV’s from the end of 2013, which products are spread worldwide. On the other hand, if somebody is learning how to get Smart TV, 3D TV, LED TV and other modern TV terms straight, it will be necessary to understand new terms floating around, that UHDTV stands for 4K and 8K, which refers to the different resolution. Thus, UHDTV with its two standards is one of the latest features in new high-end TV standards and different displays. In order to fully understand what 4K is and why it’s an improvement over standard definition and high definition, everybody must first understand how resolution works. Digital pictures, like the one on any television, computer monitor or digital camera, are made up of pixels. Each pixel contains three sub-pixels, one red, one blue and one green. A picture is created by turning these sub-pixels on and off and by adjusting their brightness. In Figure 2 is presented total number of pixels per frame for 5 standards. More pixels will result in better detail and sharper images on the screen. Different resolutions that may come across are: 1. The Standard Definition (SD) is the oldest standard with 852 pixels long and 480 pixels wide, which is in total of 408,960 pixels. 2. The High Definition (HD) standard has 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels long, for a total of 921,600 pixels. This has more than twice as many pixels as SDTV. 3. The Full HD standard has 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels long for a total of 2,073,600 pixels. This has more than twice times as many pixels as HDTV. 4. The Ultra HD standard has 3840 pixels wide and 2160 pixels long for a total of 8,294,400 pixels. This has more than four times as many pixels as a full HDTV. 5. The 4K standard refers to a resolution that is approximately 4K by 2K. In a TV, this is generally 4096 pixels long by 2160 pixels wide, for a total of 8,847,360 pixels. In cinema this may vary slightly, however 4K resolution has more than one time as many pixels as basic UHDTV.

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Figure 3. Image Formats Comparison of SHV, Digital Cinema and Ultra HDTV

6. The 8K standard has 7680 pixels long by 4329 pixels wide, for a total of 33,177,600 pixels. It is worth noting that while this technology does exist. However, it will be quite a few years before it is widely available for use. Most cameras are not even capable of capturing footage in this format yet, because most current films are shot in 4K or 5K.

2. Features of 8K Super-Hi Vision (SVH)

The SVH test transmissions will be ready to start sometimes in 2020, but because of the incredible rate of progress in TV technique and technology, like the new cameras and displays, means that it could now be a viable format to begin test broadcasts in 2016. This will give time for Japanese viewers to start buying SVH screens, ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which are being targeted as a landmark date for the ultimate 2D TV format. Hopefully, there will be some 8K SVH screens elsewhere as well, and at least a trial satellite service in the UK. The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) Forum is also working on a new MPEG-4 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) system for real-time decoding, which will halve the bit-rate of an SHV stream from 200 Mb/s with MPEG-4 H.264 today. The first HEVC kit is expected to be available next year, with trials of 4K streams at 20 Mb/s. That is the same bit-rate which was achieved for HD TV when commercial test started in 2005. Thus, to address this challenge, the HEVC/H.265 video compression standard, ratified in January 2013, provides an 2x improvement in coding efficiency compared to the Advanced Video Codec (AVC/H.264) video compression standard and a 4x improvement compared to the MPEG-2 video compression standard. Therefore, it will be not yet possible to buy SVH TV, but after test transmission it will hopefully be a catalyst for TV manufacturers to put SHV screens into production, although SHV is unlikely to become the dominant TV format until at least a decade afterwards. The NHK group has been developing the SHV system as part of a project to deliver a viewing experience far beyond that possible with existing systems. In Figure 3 is shown image formats comparison between SHV, 4K Digital Cinema and Ultra HDTV standards, values of picture height and viewing distance. As stated earlier, the SHV frame has 7680 pixels x 4320 lines with a frame rate of 120 frames/sec, which is progressive value. The resolutions in the horizontal, vertical and time vectors are the integral multiples of the HDTV format, to maintain compatibility with HDTV. The SHV system can accordingly be built on an HDTV base. Thus, the viewing distance in SHV is calculated as the picture height x 0.75 (~ 3 m/10 ft. in the case of a 500-in. theatre screen, or, in the case of a home application, a viewing distance of about 5 ft. for a 145-in.- diagonal 8K SHV) to ensure that all images are visible within 100° of the viewing angle and hence lie within the human visual field. It is a basic concept of SHV that the grain of the scanning lines should be practically invisible even at such close range so that the viewer can enjoy an extremely realistic visual sensation. The SHV standard is a sophisticated broadcasting system that is intended to provide “visual fidelity” whereby viewers experience a sensation of reality as if they were themselves in the world shown in the image or as if a real object was in front of them.

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Figure 4. Phases of 8K SHV Broadcasting TV Content

This exhibit gives an outline of SHV with audio and video system design based on research from the human sciences viewpoint, which experience transcends that of today’s TV in terms of the sensation of reality and visual fidelity that it conveys. In fact, the SHV audio and video format is the result of our human sciences research on audio-visual perception characteristics of human. Thus, the SHV format consists of ultra-high- definition images, which have 16 times the pixels of Ultra HDTV images, and 22.2 multichannel 3D sounds. Its development will require a wide range of research, from basic research on materials and device elements to design of audio, video, encoding, and transmission technologies. All manufacturers are taking the initiative on design standards of international 8K SHV format and on setting its first transmission content, which three phases of shooting, recording and display is illustrated in Figure 4. In 1995 scientifics started research on ultra-high-definition imagery and this has led to recent research and development on 8K SHV. The SHV transmission has been showcased at the 2005 World Exposition and in international transmission experiments in 2008. This exhibit introduces our progress so far and our roadmap for the future development of equipment such as cameras. This work is going to bring SHV TV to homes and is progressing in line with current research and development roadmap. At this point, all researchers are also engaged in developing a large variety of content and expanding the applications of 8K SHV TV technology for its first transmission sometimes in 2016. In Table 1 are introduced target specifications of SHV format.

Table 1. Target specifications of Super Hi-Vision Parameter Value Spatial resolution (horizontal x perpendicular) 7680 x 4320 Temporal resolution (frame frequency) 120 Hz Video Depth (number of bits) 12 bit Color system Wide color gamut System 22.2 multichannel Audio Sample frequency 48 or 96 kHz Number of bits 16, 20, or 24 bits

Figure 5. New 8K SHV Hypothetical Display

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Figure 6. Prototype of Future Sharp 8K SHV TV Display

3. 8K SVH Displays and Cameras

The 8K SHV TV resolution will be the largest under current UHDV format that will take the lead in digital television and cinematography. This format refers to the horizontal resolution of these formats, which are all on the order of 8,000 pixels, forming the total image dimensions (7680x4320). This format will offer display resolution that may be the successor to 4K standard resolution, which is speculated to become a mainstream standard in televisions by 2017. One advantage of high-resolution displays such as 8K SHV is to have each pixel be indistinguishable from another to the human eye at a certain distance away, which is illustrated in Figure 5. On an 8K screen sized 52” as predecessor of 4K resolution, this high resolution effect would be achieved in a distance of 20” from the screen, and on a 92” screen at 3’ away. Another practical purpose of this resolution is in combination with a cropping technique used in film editing. In such a way, this allows filmmakers to film in a high resolution such as 8K, with a wide lens, or at a farther distance from a potentially dangerous subject, intending to zoom and crop digitally in post-production, a portion of the original image to match a smaller resolution such as the current industry standard for HDTV (1080p, 720p and 480p). The last developed 8K Ultra HDTV is the second of the two Ultra HDTV formats, featuring a 7680×4320 px resolution, which is exactly 16 times the resolution of Full HD. The 8K UHDTV prototype of Sharp producer is illustrated in Figure 6. The 8K Ultra HD technology is still largely experimental at this point, with only one 8K SHV TV being featured at Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2013 by Sharp. Having seen this resolution in person, it is possible to conclude that the astounding video quality cannot be described with words, nor can a still photograph accurately represent the sheer awesomeness of this video resolution. When 8K Ultra HD is combined with 22.2 surround sound, NHK advocates this as Super Hi-Vision. Therefore, 8K standard is still at least several years away from living room of future consumers. Three main obstacles must be overcome to bring this resolution to mainstream: Storage, Bandwidth, and Content. In the meantime, similar to the previous standards, various 8K Ultra HD products are being designed, such as the AH-4800 camera by Astro Design, capable of recording 8K resolution and other relaying products. Few film cameras have the capability to film in 8K, with innovators NHK being one of the only companies to have created a small broadcasting camera with an 8K image sensor, which prototype is shown in Figure 7. Sony and Red Digital Cinema Camera Company are both working to bring larger 8K sensors in more of their cameras in the coming years. Although 8K will not be a mainstream resolution anytime soon, a major reason filmmakers are pushing for 8K cameras is to get better 4K footage. Through a process called downsampling, using a larger 8K image downsampled to 4K could create a sharper picture with richer colors than a 4K camera would be able to achieve on its own with a smaller sensor.

4. Long-Distance Trial of 8K SHV Transmission

The NHK Company is conducting research and development on a large-capacity terrestrial transmission technology to realize 8K SHV terrestrial broadcasting and conducted its long-distance transmission test. On this occasion, a long-distance test transmission was successfully achieved in February 2014.

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Figure 7. Prototype of Future 8K SHV TV Camera

In the test, a compressed 8K signal was transmitted on a single UHF-band channel of 6 MHz bandwidth, from a test station at NHK’s Hitoyoshi TV relay station in Hitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture. It was confirmed that at this time Japanese NHK Company has managed to send the 8K signal to a receiving station 27 km away, the same distance that can be achieved by current terrestrial digital broadcasting. In order to transmit the 8K signal, whose resolution is 16 times greater than current HDTV signal, it was essential to utilize new technologies that expand transmission capacity, such as ultra-multilevel Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), a method of encoding digital data on multiple carrier frequencies that is also used in Wi-Fi, and dual-polarized Multiple-Input Multiple- Output (MIMO), a technique in which multiple antennas are used at the points of transmission and reception to enhance performance, in addition to image data compression technology. In Figure 8 is illustrated comparison of the tested 8K SHV and current terrestrial digital broadcasting. Above all, in May 2012, NHK’s Science & Technology Research Laboratories successfully completed the world’s first terrestrial 8K test transmission over a distance of approximately 4.2 km. This test showed that 8K signals can be transmitted over even longer distances, demonstrating that it can be delivered to homes. In order to strive for the speedy realization of 8K terrestrial broadcasting, NHK plans to push on further with its research and development. NHK is carrying out this test with the support of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

5. Conclusion

It is the time of designing and implementation of very new 8K SHV or UHDTV2 TV standard. This modern technology and technique promises to make movies look better than they were before. This will depend fully on the format of the original movie. The 8k screens soon will be pushing their way into people’s homes and it is only expected that as the technology becomes greater, almost every home will feature this special devices for entertainment.

Figure 8. Comparison of Tested 8K SHV and Current Terrestrial Digital Broadcasting

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Therefore, before customers are buying a new TV in the future, it will be wise to consider 8K Super-Hi Vision display before going the traditional route because things change so fast with technology. May be three years from now, the 4K TV will be non-functional and all the movies will be produced in the new 8K SHV format. The manufacturers only respond to the market, so they are always ready to market and sell newer and better technologies. This time around will not be different, since it only makes economical sense, so think, newest 8K SHV displays will bring higher resolution than ever, extremely quality picture on a widescreen with more pixels and effects.

6. References

[1] Cianci P.J., (2012), “High Definition Television: The Creation, Development and Implementation of HDTV Technology”, McFarland Publishers, Jefferson, NC, US, 383. [2] Imai T., (2020) , "8K SHV TV Broadcasts", Science&Technology Research Laboratories (STRL), Japan Broadcasting Corp., Tokyo, Japan, 7. [3] Edwards L., (2014), “8K TV broadcast trials: Do they mean 4K UHD TVs are obsolete already?”, Pocket-lint Limited, Ascot, England, 7. [4] Wilson T.V.V., (2020), “How HDTV Works”, HowStuffWorks, Venice, CA, US, 6. [5] Varney R.A., (2015), "Resolution Revolution: The Future of Ultra High Definition Television", MSc Thesis, University of Dublin, Dablin, Ireland, 55. [6] Astro, (2020), “8K/4K Ultra High Resolution/High Definition Imaging”, Astro Design, Tokyo, Japan, 3. [7] Pendlebury T., (2014), “What is 4K UHD? Next-generation resolution explained”, CNET, San Francisco, US, 10. [8] Hirschmann K., (2012), "HDTV - High Definition Television", Norwood House Press, Fairpor, NY, 48. [9] Cianci P.J., (2007), "HDTV and the Transition to Digital Broadcasting", Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 216. [10] Greenwald W., (2020), "What is 4K (Ultra HD)?", PCMag, New York, US, 7. [11] NHK Science & Technolgy, (2012), "High Definition Television: Hi-Vision Technology", Springer, Boston, US, 304. [12] Kimiyama H., (2014), "Uncompressed 8K Video Streaming over 100Gb/s Experimental Network",Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Tpkyo, Japan, 20. [13] Morrod T., at al., (2020), "4K TV and UHD: the whole picture", IHS Markit, London, UK, 38. [14] Cohen S., (2014), “Sharp Unveils CES Lineup and Innovations”, High-Def Digest, New York, US, 3. [15] Malas D., (2014), “4K vs. UHDTV: Clearing up the Confusion”, CableLabs, Louisville, CO, US, 8. [16] Toothman J., (2008), “How Ultra-high Definition Works”, HowStuffWorks, Venice, CA, US, 5. [17] Turner P., "The Truth and Hype on 4K, 8K, UHD and HDR", Telestream, Nevada City, CA, US, 13. [18] ITU, (2012), “The present state of ultra-high definition television”, Recommendation BT.2246-2, Geneva, Switzerland.

BIOGRAPHY OF AUTHOR

Prof. Dimov Stojce Ilcev is a research leader and founder of the Space Science Centre (SSC) for research and postgraduate studies at Durban University of Technology (DUT). He has three BSc degrees in Radio, Nautical Science and Maritime Electronics and Communications. He got MSc and PhD in Mobile Satellite Communications and Navigation as well. Prof. Ilcev also holds the certificates for Radio operator 1st class (Morse), for GMDSS 1st class Radio Electronic Operator and Maintainer and for Master Mariner without Limitations. He is the author of several books in mobile Radio and Satellite CNS, DVB-RCS, Satellite Asset Tracking (SAT), Stratospheric Platform Systems (SCP) for maritime, land (road and railways), and aeronautical applications.

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