Bob Kovacs / 06.26.2012 01:00PM
Focusing on UHDTV
4K pushes resolution to new levels
ALEXANDRIA, VA.:—Just
when most of
the world has
settled on 1080p monitors
as the standard in
high definition, there is
increasing talk in
the industry of higher
resolution
monitors—including those for
consumer viewing.
And bubbling underneath
this not-so-gentle
push for higher
resolutions are
standards organizations
working on
next-generation standards for
distribution and
even broadcast of this
higher
resolution.
|
|
LG
unveiled an 84-inch ultra-definition 4K display at the International CES in
January.
|
|
Known informally as
“ultra high-definition
TV”
(UHDTV), the basics of the technology
are not new; UHDTV
was demonstrated
by NHK as early as
the 2006 NAB
Show.
What’s
new now is the recent announcements
by several manufacturers
of 4K cameras, as well as the monitors
necessary to view the output of the cameras.
These 4K monitors constitute the
vanguard of UHDTV displays, and more
are likely to arrive soon.
Not only are manufacturers
of professional equipment turning
their attention to UHDTV
displays, consumer organizations
are watching the technology
carefully and devoting some time
to stay abreast of developments.
“4K is
the latest innovation
that will pave the way for the next era in
the home viewing experience,” said Gary
Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics
Association. “All parties with an
interest in 4K are coming together under
CEA’s leadership to form the 4K working
group, which will help enhance the viewing
experience for all consumers.”
4K
FOR OTA?
The CES focuses on products for consumers,
but it is not the
only organization
looking at a possible future with 4K displays
in the home. The ATSC is considering
UHDTV as part of its ATSC 3.0 initiative.
“We have not made any decisions at
this point,” said Mark Richer, president of
the ATSC. “There is a growing interest in
4K and 8K UHDTV, but also a strong view
that the 3.0 standard focus on mobile and
handheld applications that are not likely to
require UHDTV.”
|
|
Mark
Richer
|
|
In the near term, true 1080p broadcasting
is a likely stepping stone on the way
to UHDTV.
“ATSC 2.0 will support 1080p x 1920
at
60Hz using AVC
[MPEG-4] coding,” Richer
said. “For real-time applications, it will reference
the existing A/72 standard for use
of AVC in the ATSC DTV system.”
If UHDTV displays are to become a significant
consumer item, there will need
to be ways to deliver the signal to homes.
Current Blu-ray disks might work for UHDTV
with new compression and encoding
methods, and by standardizing on additional
layers. Solid-state storage, such as
USB flash drives and SD memory cards, can
also have enough storage space to possibly
work for UHDTV delivery, if the cost of the
storage media can be pushed low enough.
However, delivery of UHDTV to the
home holds the key to turning a boutique
high-end display device into a mainstream
product.
“I think it’s likely that some broadcasters
in some countries will transmit 4K UHDTV,”
Richer said. “It’s too early for me to
speculate on the required bandwidth, but
some UHDTV content may be delivered in
non-real-time.”
An example of non-real-time delivery
would be downloading a movie overnight
for playback the next day. As for international
standards for UHDTV broadcasting,
the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) is examining high-resolution
systems with an eye on terrestrial broadcasting
with its recent recommendations
for UHDTV quality standards.
|
|
David
Woods
|
|
The UHDTV tests that have been done
so far have used the existing MPEG compression
systems, MPEG-2 and AVC,” said
David Wood, chairman of ITU-R study
group 6, working party 6C, which deals
with baseband systems and quality evaluation.
“New compression technology, HEVC,
will be available in the coming years, and it
will certainly make sense to use it for UHDTV
if the UHDTV rollout comes relatively
soon.”
“Recently, NHK showed the 8K system
using AVC carried over two terrestrial television
channels with advanced modulation
and a total bit rate of about 180 Mbps,”
Wood said. “Maybe if HEVC had been used,
the figure might have come down to 90
Mbps. We can conclude that terrestrial
broadcasting of 8K will need to wait for a
few years and a new modulation system,
but 8K will be quite possible by satellite
broadcasting, and attention at the moment
is on the 22 GHz satellite band.
“For the 4K system, it is a different story,
and certainly 4K terrestrial broadcasting
will be possible with HEVC and a modulation
system like DVB-T2,” Wood said. “So, 4K
broadcasting will be practical. I guess the bit
rate required for 4K using HEVC will be a
number in the twenties [of megabits].”
MANUFACTURER
INTEREST
Several manufacturers have
shown both professional and
consumer UHDTV displays.
Companies such as JVC, Panasonic
and Sony demonstrated
4K prototype monitors in conjunction
with their respective
4K video cameras and LG, Sharp
and Toshiba showed 4K TV sets
at the 2012 International CES in
January. At least one company,
TVLogic, has been shipping a 4K
monitor for more than a year, and
Astro Design has several models
of 4K monitors.
The TVLogic LUM-560W is a
56-inch LCD display with a resolution of
3840x2160 pixels and 10-bit processing.
The company targets the LUM-560W at
high-end cinema post, industrial, military
and medical applications.
Astro Design has a line of four 4K
LCD monitors that range from 28-inch to
60-inch. One example is the 60-inch DM-
3412, which has 10-bit processing and
3840x2160-pixel resolution.
|
|
TVLogic
targets its LUM-560W 56-inch 4K LCD display to high-end cinema post,
industrial, military and medical applications
|
|
Viewsonic has shown a prototype 4K
32-inch flatscreen computer monitor, and
has even assigned it a model number: the
VP3280-LED. Viewsonic says the monitor
will be marketed for film studios, broadcasters
and photographers, and it might
ship as soon as the end of 2012.
Almost as soon as countries standardized
on 1080 displays, researchers leaped
past the 1080-line barrier to higher-resolution
displays. UHDTV displays will likely
see quick acceptance among program producers
and filmmakers, which will fuel a
market for deployment of UHDTV displays
for wealthy consumers.
It’s too early to tell if there will be
movement toward a terrestrial broadcast
UHDTV standard, but distribution by other
means will almost certainly follow the sale
of such displays to consumers.
Will your current 1080p display become
the new unloved NTSC CRT television?
Time will tell, and that time is still a
few years off.
Bob Kovacs is a television engineer
and video producer/director. He can be
reached at bob@bobkovacs.com.