TV's Paradox: No HDR Without 4K

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Duh! 1/18/2017 | 12:09:44 PM

Re: Nice Article Thank You Modern video codings are scalable and elastic, so it is really hard to get a video engineer to give a number to digital bandwidth requirements. As a benchmark, Netflix encodes 2160p 4k UHD video at rates around 18 Mbit/s with HEVC. Note that this is about the same rate as the industry was using for MPEG2-encoded 720i HD in the mid-2000s.

As to how the MSOs will handle the greater bandwidth demand, check out Rob Howalds Upskill U. lecture.

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Duh! 1/18/2017 | 11:54:37 AM

Re: VR in 4K Really? I'd like to see how he arrived at that. That's around 1.6 orders of magnitude greater than HDR-encoded 4k TV. Somehow, it doesn't seem right.

If that really is the minimum, it seems like a huge chicken-and-egg problem for those applications and multi-Gigabit per second access.

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inkstainedwretch 1/17/2017 | 7:07:31 PM

DisAPPOINted... The difference between 4K and 8K? Meh. The difference between SDR and HDR? Almost as exciting as the original jump from SD to HD.

The industry didn't care about the confusion in the market with all the different levels of HD compatibility and all the different screen types. But the industry is going to hold off on HDR because they can't figure out how market it? That seems spineless to the point where I suspect there's some other reason for not doing it.

VR will be interesting for games. I remain skeptical it will be useful in any way for the film industry. There will be a couple of exciting developments in the next 5 years, but I'd be surprised if there's a well-developed market outside of games at that point.

--Brian Santo

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msilbey 1/17/2017 | 3:50:09 PM

Re: Nice Article Thank You Thanks, John. You must be a cable guy. On 8K, I'm with you. My 1080p set is just fine, and at 42", it wouldn't benefit much from a 4K upgrade. Also, I agree on waiting for 8K. And that's exactly what TV manufacturers are afraid of.

As for whether cable networks can handle 8K, they'll just keep adding capacity as needed. How they do it depends on what happens between now and the time 8K arrives.

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msilbey 1/17/2017 | 3:46:52 PM

Re: VR in 4K Thanks, 242ak. I'll be at MWC this year and will look for the scoop on mobile UHD certification. I imagine there will be a fair number of mobile video announcements.

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johnestock 1/17/2017 | 2:52:50 PM

Nice Article Thank You Whenever an article on LR interests me it seems to always be by you, Mari! I'd love to hear from anyone on here if they think Docsis will handle 4K video? 8K? (I know it's a long way off, but I have a very nice 1080p set and if 8K is even whiffed around I'll wait, even if it's 5 years)--I mean I can see the hairs on people's necks on my FiOS broadcasts already!

Will 8K require ANOTHER rebuild if Cable MSO's go Docsis 3.x?

Thanks much

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242ak 1/17/2017 | 1:37:50 PM

Re: VR in 4K msilbey - great post, and a frustrating issue for many broadcasters. I do think though that we'll see some HD content with HDR in the next few years. Unfortunately, as you point out, it will have to be on UHD TVs. In another development, the UHD Alliance (which certifies UHD Tvs) will be announcing a mobile UHD certification at mobile world congress. Be interesting to see what that will entail.

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msilbey 1/17/2017 | 1:22:45 PM

VR in 4K One thing that didn't make it into this story was another stat I heard at CES about the bandwidth requirements of virtual reality when it starts streaming in 4K resolution. CEO John Honker of Magellan Advisors said that a 4K/UHD VR stream will demand 850 megabits per second of bandwdith. And Honker believes we'll have 4K VR within the next 5 years.

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