Hitomi Broadcast will introduce Spectra, a new HDR color verification tool as well as its Matchbox Panorama timing solution at IBC2026, Sept. 11-14 at the RAI Amsterdam. Expanding its capabilities beyond timing and synchronization, Spectra helps engineers confirm that color remains accurate as pictures move through complex production and distribution routes, the company said.

Live workflows now carry more formats and versions through the same facility, including SDR and HDR outputs from a single production. As signals pass through converters, routers, processors, LUTs and software workflows, one configuration error can leave the program technically wrong even when the picture looks acceptable during initial checks.

“In the pressure of set-up, errors in a video source can be missed because there is a recognizable picture,” said Russell Johnson, Director at Hitomi. “If the color path is wrong, that problem can travel through the workflow and affect the final program.

“Engineers are dealing with more sources, more formats and more delivery paths than ever before,” Johnson added. “With MatchBox, we made timing checks fast, objective and simple. With Spectra, we are applying the same thinking, giving teams certainty that the image is being handled correctly before it reaches the viewer.”

Hitomi’s color verification solution generates a defined set of test colors at the source, sends them through the normal program route and analyzes them at the end. By comparing the received colors with the expected result, it can highlight incorrect LUTs, unexpected conversions and routing errors between SDR and HDR paths.

That gives engineers a fast, objective check which reduces reliance on visual judgement alone and helps catch configuration errors before they become visible on air, according to the company.

MatchBox Panorama will also make its IBC debut following its launch at the 2026 NAB Show in April. Matchbox provides a wide view of timing throughout the entire production workflow of a live broadcast. Panorama brings timing measurements from across complex production workflows into one central view, helping teams identify where delay is being introduced across facilities, remote production and software-based environments.

MatchBox Panorama is a standalone software product designed for larger production environments. It is already proven within the Grass Valley AMPP ecosystem, with further integrations with other manufacturers to be released soon.

Hitomi will be in Stand 10.A40 during the show.

LOS ANGELES—Beeble has unveiled the SwitchHDR, a new AI-driven model that reconstructs HDR imagery from conventional SDR video, producing scene-linear 16-bit EXR sequences for professional post-production. Designed for filmmakers, colorists and VFX artists, SwitchHDR is available through the Beeble web application.

SDR video captures only a fraction of the dynamic range present in a real scene. Once highlights clip or shadow detail is compressed or lost, traditional SDR-to-HDR methods can only redistribute the remaining signal, often introducing banding, noise and other artifacts. In contrast, SwitchHDR is trained on real HDR footage to reconstruct a plausible HDR representation rather than stretch the existing SDR signal. The result rebuilds highlight and shadow detail, suppresses shadow noise and preserves temporal consistency across entire video sequences.

Unlike automatic conversion tools, SwitchHDR offers direct artistic control over the process. Users can define highlight and shadow regions using luminance masks and guide the model with separate text prompts. HDR reconstruction is applied only to selected regions, while the remainder of the image is carried through without AI reconstruction.

Output is delivered as scene-linear 16-bit EXR sequences in ACES2065-1 (AP0), enabling seamless integration into professional grading, compositing and VFX pipelines.

SwitchHDR is designed for professional production and post-production workflows, including feature films, commercials, sports production, archival restoration and visual effects. The technology expands Beeble's suite of AI tools for production and post-production, building on its work in relighting, compositing and virtual production.

SwitchHDR is available through the Beeble web application.

More information is available on the company’s website.

DMC Production Germany has been appointed as the technical service provider and studio partner for MagentaTV’s coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

MagentaTV is Deutsche Telekom's IPTV and streaming service in Germany and that country’s World Cup TV rightsholder.

All content will be delivered in UHD with Dolby Atmos and accessibility features, including audio description. For the first time, the entire production chain will operate fully in HDR.

MagentaTV’s coverage will be centred around two studios: one in Munich, Germany, and the other at 1 World Trade Center in New York, which will serve as the main studio hub.

Munich will also serve as the central control hub for the remote production workflow from the U.S. studio, with all live production operations managed from Germany, said DMC.

The company is responsible for the complete internal production infrastructure of both studios, which will feature “innovative, high-end scenic design, advanced analysis graphics and premium LED wall integrations.”

DMC Production Germany’s role also includes IP-based signal management and conversion, playout and feed enhancement, gallery production for all three MagentaTV’s FIFA World Cup channels, as well as ingest, recording and file management services.

“Together with MagentaTV and thinXpool, we are implementing international production architecture designed for maximum flexibility and efficiency,” DMC Managing Director Holger Ensslin said. “Our ambition is not only to provide the technical foundation, but also to actively contribute to setting new standards in sports broadcasting and enabling innovative production formats.”

This article originally appeared on TV Tech sister brand TVBEurope.

LAS VEGAS—Advanced HDR by Technicolor has announced that it will be highlighting new high dynamic range (HDR) formats and production models as well as new NextGen TV boxes during the 2026 NAB Show between April 18 and 22.

While HDR continues to gain traction with consumers, Advanced HDR by Technicolor’s team believes that many of today’s “premium” video experiences still fail to produce a demonstrably visible or differentiated experience. That’s because, they say, the industry reliance on static look up tables (LUTs) and redundant standard dynamic range (SDR)and HDR pipelines is flattening image quality while introducing operational costs and complexity.

At NAB this year, the Advanced HDR by Technicolor team will showcase an evolution away from these constraints, presenting dynamic HDR workflows and single-stream delivery methodologies that are designed to preserve creative intent, and ensure the seamless transition from SDR and HDR while reducing infrastructure costs across broadcast and streaming operations.

“Production teams selecting the predictable and safe path of legacy SDR workflows and static LUTs HDR are limiting the viewing experience of consumers while undermining the business case for this technology. If HDR is to be considered a premium feature then it must be delivered as the ‘hero’ format rather than the compromise,” said Rick Dumont, head of business development for Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

Deployment of Advanced HDR by Technicolor is also expanding across NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) and into HDR streaming operations, the company noted. Implementations with partners such as Hisense combine Advanced HDR by Technicolor with NextGen TV capabilities to enhance the viewing experience of live sports. The solution is also supported by core video workflow providers across the ecosystem including Mainconcept, Cobalt, Ateme and Amagi.

During the show demonstrations will focus on a few key developments in how HDR is produced and distributed:

• Dynamic HDR conversion solution that replaces static LUTs processing while optimizing content frame by frame and maintaining contrast, brightness and color depth across varying types of content.
• Single-stream delivery of HDR and SDR which eliminates the need for parallel workflows and enables one signal to serve legacy SDR and HDR-enabled devices.
• HDR delivery within SDR bandwidth constraints using existing 8-bit AVC workflows, removing the requirements for 10-bit HEVC implementations.
• Content provided at UHD/HDR-like quality at less than 25% of the bandwidth usually associated with such formats.
• This approach challenges workflows that have prioritized SDR compatibility over HDR performance.

As broadcasters and streaming service providers compete in an increasingly saturated market, the inconsistent implementation of HDR has weakened the technology’s ability to capture consumer attention, lessening its impact as a driver of subscriptions or advertising dollars.

At the same time, the production teams that choose to maintain separate SDR and HDR workflows introduce added costs to production, storage and distribution. Those parallel workflows are going to be more difficult to sustain as content libraries continue to grow and live production demands become more complex.

By comparison, a single-stream approach reduces the requirements on infrastructure and bandwidth while simplifying operations. There is no longer a need for manual color adjustments and grading decisions which can deteriorate performance across devices, Advanced HDR by Technicolor argues.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor experts will be on hand during the show at Advanced HDR by Technicolor Meeting Room (Invitation Only) located at C3062MR in Central Hall and the ATSC booth located at C1655 in Central Hall

More information is available at https://advancedhdrbytechnicolor.com.

DEVENTER, Netherlands—Cloud-native, AI-driven playout specialist BCNEXXT has deployed live HLG-based HDR playout capabilities within its Vipe platform, enabling broadcasters to integrate High Dynamic Range into live production workflows while maintaining parallel SDR services.

The implementation is focused on real-world broadcast environments where HDR and SDR audiences must coexist, particularly in live sports production, where HDR origination is accelerating.

BCNEXXT’s Vipe now supports UHD 2160p BT.2100 HLG live ingest and playout, with file-based content rendered into HLG during pre-processing to ensure visual consistency across programming and commercial insertion.

Rather than promoting universal HDR feature support, BCNEXXT’s approach prioritizes workflow architecture and controlled deployment.

“In classic broadcasting fashion, we’ve adopted four different HDR standards,” said Graham Sharp, vice president of sales and marketing at BCNEXXT. “The formats themselves are relatively easy to understand. The real complexity comes from cross-conversion and managing HDR and SDR simultaneously.”

BCNEXXT’s current deployments focus on receiving and playing out live HLG feeds directly, while rendering file-based content into HLG before playout. In many cases, customers provide a parallel SDR feed from the venue or production, eliminating unnecessary HDR-to-SDR conversion within the playout chain.

“That round-trip conversion is where risk lives,” said Sharp. “HDR implementation is all about the workflow and minimizing unnecessary format movement and cross conversion.”

Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all HDR strategy, Vipe is configured based on each broadcaster’s operational model, distribution endpoints and commercial requirements.

“Our approach is customer-led,” he added. “To simply claim universal HDR support misses the point. Every broadcaster’s environment is different. The implementation must reflect that.”

The company has recently posted a blog on HDR workflow.

BEAVERTON, Ore.—HDR10+ Technologies, a multi-industry association that encompasses more than 170 adopters and nearly 20,000 certified devices, is reporting that the France 2 UHD TV channel will be broadcasting the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 4K Ultra HD which utilizes HDR10+ metadata technology to optimize video image quality on a scene-by-scene basis.

The broadcasts, which will run February 6 to 22, are just the latest example of how HDR10+ is being used for a variety of applications in the entertainment industry, the group said.

In addition to providing superior video quality, France 2 UHD will be offering three different immersive audio mixing options on compatible televisions: a traditional mix balancing commentary and ambient sounds; a mix where the commentary volume is increased by 6 dB for greater voice intelligibility; and a mix that contains ambient sounds only, without any commentary.

According to Bill Mandel, co-manager of HDR10+ Technologies, LLC “We are pleased to work with France Télévisions Group to utilize HDR10+ to help the Olympic Games enthusiasts to enjoy the highest quality video and audio possible”.

Jacques Donat-Bouillud, director of distribution, France Télévisions Group added that “France 2 UHD is proud to deliver the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in native UHD. This exceptional image quality and more immersive sound will enable our viewers to experience these Olympic Games as if they were on the slopes or ice rink.”

For more information on HDR10+ please contact info@hdr10plus.org

NEW YORK—NBCUniversal will present a full day of 4K HDR live coverage on Feb. 8 of the Super Bowl LX and the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on NBC and Peacock.

The 17 hours of coverage starting at 7 a.m. ET marks the first time a Super Bowl and Olympic Games will be presented in 4K HDR on the NBC broadcast network and the Peacock streaming service.

The Feb. 8 begins with live Winter Olympics coverage starting at 7 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, followed by Super Bowl pregame coverage at noon ET, game coverage at 6:30 p.m. ET and finishes with Primetime in Milan beginning at approximately 10:45 p.m. ET – providing fans with 17 hours of 4K HDR coverage.

These technological firsts are part of what NBCUniversal is calling “Legendary February”, an unprecedented month of major sporting events on one network, with Super Bowl LX, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and NBA All-Star Weekend.

“When you’re about to present the biggest month in U.S. sports media history, you want to make sure you’re giving fans the best experience possible – so that’s exactly what we have planned on NBC and Peacock for Super Bowl LX, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and NBA All-Star Weekend,” said Rick Cordella, president, NBC Sports. “Building on NBC Sports’ long-standing commitment to innovation across all platforms, we’ll be celebrating the action on the field, slopes and court with our signature storytelling, state-of-the-art production, and dynamic streaming features that together bring these incredible sporting events to life for audiences at home.”

As part of Legendary February, Peacock will also debut fan-favorite feature Multiview in beta on mobile during the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and offer new sharing options for Olympic-related clips and mini-games.

In an industry first, Peacock’s popular Multiview feature will extend to mobile, launching in beta for the Winter Games. The four-box vertical display will showcase the top four events at any given time, as well as an event-specific Multiview for curling, all curated by NBC Sports producers. This builds on Peacock’s expansive experience for Legendary February that was previously announced, including Winter Olympics Highlights playlists in vertical video, the new feature Rinkside Live, mini-games and trivia.

In addition, for the first time, Peacock users will be able to share their favorite Winter Olympics Highlight clips and trivia and Prediction Game results with friends and family directly from mobile via text and social networks. The ability to share their wins creates an opportunity to spark friendly competition and foster connections – all while they are watching the world’s greatest sporting event unfold.

“Peacock is the first streamer to deliver major live sports at this scale, seamlessly presenting many simultaneous events, with millions of people coming to the platform at once, over several days,” said Patrick Miceli, CTO of NBCUniversal Media Group and Global Streaming. “This impressive performance is possible because of Peacock’s industry-leading infrastructure that supports unmatched reliability, especially under peak demand.”

Tech Highlights For Legendary February

NBC Sports also announced that its Super Bowl LX, which will be produced by Rob Hyland and Drew Escoff, an award-winning team who have worked on more than 10 Super Bowls combined, will use more than 80 cameras and 150 microphones, In addition, NBC will use new technologies like Weather Applied Metrics, which quantifies how past, present and future weather conditions impact the game. Fans will also see a new graphics package.

For the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, fans can expect richer storytelling through increased aerial coverage via the more-extensive use of live drones, behind-the-scenes audio from team radio stations – translated live in real-time using AI as needed, and more access to friends and family reactions, including heart rate monitors and corresponding onscreen graphics.

For the first time in over 20 years, NBC will produce NBA All-Star Weekend onsite in Los Angeles, with a focus on getting fans closer to the action than ever before. New camera angles include additional views of the rim, super-slo-mo capabilities on nearly every camera, SkyCam, and Nucleus Pico mini cameras mounted at floor level on the basket stanchion, along with the new Peacock feature Courtside Live.

LAS VEGAS—Dolby Laboratories said NBCUniversal’s Peacock will be the first streaming platform to embrace its full suite of advanced picture and sound innovations.

Peacock began streaming “Sunday Night Football” in Dolby Atmos immersive audio last September and said it is extending the availability of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos to live National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball games throughout 2026. Although the announcement didn't include the 2026 Winter Olympics (Feb. 6–22), Comcast and select broadcasters aired the 2024 Paris Summer Games in Dolby Atmos immersive audio and HDR.

Peacock is also the first streamer to announce its commitment to support Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby AC-4, anticipated to launch later this year, according to Dolby. Unveiled at IFA 2025, Dolby Vision 2 is what Dolby describes as a “groundbreaking evolution” of its industry-leading picture quality innovation for televisions.

“Building on the success of Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision 2 is designed to meet the evolving expectations of today’s viewers and unlock the most out of your television,” the company said in its announcement. “From helping solve the debate on whether the picture is ‘too dark’ to delivering a more cinematic experience without distracting judder or soap-opera effects, Dolby Vision 2 delivers a more authentic, captivating picture—without compromise.”

Dolby AC-4 is that company’s most advanced and efficient audio codec to date, delivering crystal-clear sound with up to 50% greater efficiency than traditional codecs, the company said. Dolby AC-4 offers new personalization and dialog enhancement features and unlocks the highest audio fidelity possible while using a fraction of the bandwidth of traditional codecs.

“Peacock is raising the bar for what streaming entertainment can be with Dolby,” said John Couling, senior vice president of entertainment at Dolby Laboratories. “This partnership reflects our vision to push the boundaries of live sports and entertainment, delivering experiences that truly stand apart. With Dolby, Peacock stands as the premier destination for viewers who expect nothing less than exceptional entertainment at home.”

Added David Bohunek, senior vice president of global video engineering at NBCUniversal: “We deliver the most compelling content with the highest quality experience and unparalleled reliability on Peacock. Our partnership with Dolby ensures that whether our subscribers are streaming a thrilling playoff game, the latest Universal blockbuster or a critically acclaimed Peacock Original, they're experiencing it exactly as creators intended—with breathtaking picture and immersive sound that brings every moment to life.”

BEAVERTON, Ore.—HDR10+ Technologies, LLC has announced that they will soon begin the licensing and certification of devices, content, and services that support HDR10+ ADVANCED dynamic meta data technology, the latest in a series of enhancements that are part of the rapidly expanding HDR10+ ecosystem.

HDR10+ Technologies, which develops specifications for HDR10+ applications and operates a certification, licensing and logo program, is a multi-industry association that encompasses more than 170 adopters and nearly 20,000 certified devices.

HDR10+ dynamic metadata offers a number of benefits, including outstanding brightness and contrast, robust standardization, easy implementation, worldwide certification, and no licensing fees, the group reported.

It also works seamlessly with HDR10 standard metadata and is future ready. HDR10+ video supports implementations from 10-bit to 16-bit and up to 10,000 nits of brightness. HDR10+ ADVANCED has been specifically designed to elevate HDR10+ performance to a whole new level, the group said.

According to Bill Mandel, co-manager of HDR10+ Technologies, LLC “With the development of HDR10+ ADVANCED dynamic metadata, content creators and entertainment enthusiasts can finally realize the ultimate video experience, no matter how demanding their needs. We’re confident this new technology will be embraced by consumers and professionals alike, across a variety of businesses and applications”.

HDR 10+ also underscored growing support in the consumer electronics and creative community for HDR10+ and reported that the introduction of HDR10+ ADVANCED has been eagerly anticipated by companies like MediaTek, Panasonic, Roku, Samsung and TP Vision; as well as leading content providers like Amazon Prime Video.

"HDR10+ ADVANCED marks a transformative leap in streaming picture quality, and we're thrilled to pioneer support for this new technology on Prime Video," said BA Winston, vice president of technology at Prime Video. “We will offer HDR10+ ADVANCED on select titles from Prime Video's extensive catalog of award-winning programming, with plans to expand availability across our library in the future."

The group described the key new features for HDR10+ ADVANCED as follows:

• HDR10+ ADVANCED provides creatives with a number of exciting new features and benefits that can be enjoyed on compatible products.
• Enhanced Overall Brightness - Extended statistical metadata is provided to produce better image tonality. Adopters can utilize this to achieve greater brightness that can be experienced on today's most advanced televisions.
• Intelligent Motion Smoothing – This metadata feature is used to address the effects of visible “judder” in a given scene, by allowing compatible displays to dynamically adjust the amount of motion “smoothing “that is applied.
• Local Tone Mapping - Allows creators to achieve greater brightness control in specific areas of the screen, adding more overall depth and detail.
• Genre-based Optimization – A new metadata tool enables content providers and encoders to create “customized” genres dynamically. The display can then optimize picture processing and tailor it to each type of content.
• Advanced Color Control – HDR10+ ADVANCED also enables content creators to dynamically calculate color gamut data, for more accurate color reproduction.
• Adaptive Cloud Gaming – In addition to compatibility with HDR10+ GAMING picture mode, HDR10+ ADVANCED supports cloud-based games with real-time ambient light adaptation, creating a more engaging user experience.

Makoto Morise, co-manager of HDR10+ Technologies, LLC, added that “All of these new features and benefits are why HDR10+ ADVANCED provides more creative possibilities and opportunities than ever before”.

For more information on HDR10+ ADVANCED, please contact info@hdr10plus.org.

To learn more about the HDR10+ consortium, license and logo program, please visit: www.hdr10plus.org/

WASHINGTON—NextGen TV viewers are beginning to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings to their football enjoyment with the launch of the sport’s fall season.

Fans of the NFL’s New Orleans Saints got a taste of what HDR can do on Aug. 23, when Gray Media-owned Tupelo Media Group produced a preseason game against the Denver Broncos in native HDR. WVUE, the Gray-owned Fox affiliate in New Orleans, broadcast the contest in high dynamic range to local viewers, according to Pearl TV, the business coalition of major broadcast groups.

The game telecast is believed to be the first-ever native HDR over-the-air broadcast of any kind in the U.S.—from the cameras, through the mobile production workflow and ultimately to NextGen TV viewers. The broadcast gave fans the chance to experience exactly how HDR enhances the viewing experience by offering improved contrast between the brightest and darkest areas of the screen, as well as wider color gamut.

Sinclair is also enhancing the viewing experience of NextGen TV viewers with upconverted HDR transmitted from its NextGen TV stations. The station group is also offering T2 (Tennis Channel 2) and Pickleball TV Channel in 45 markets through broadcast-enabled streaming virtual channels available to connected NextGen TV viewers, Pearl TV said.

The HDR push from both station groups is a precursor to the 2026 World Cup, which will be broadcast in HDR, as well as the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, it said.

“With NextGen TV reaching more than three-quarters of viewing households, it’s exciting to see broadcasters enable High Dynamic Range on almost every channel to greatly enhance picture quality,” Pearl TV managing director Anne Schelle said. “Additionally, more than half of U.S. households also have access to broadcast Dolby Atmos audio, which adds a new dimension to entertainment and sports.”

Pearl TV plans once again to promote the benefits of NextGen TV during the lead-up to the holiday shopping season, it said.

Besides HDR, the effort has much to tout, including NextGen TV-based interactive music TV, available via ROXi in partnership with FastStream Interactive and Sinclair and GameLoop, a streaming TV channel for smart TV gamers, carried by Gray Media and Sinclair in 49 NextGen TV markets.

A new case study looks at NBC-owned stations’ NextGen TV transmission of the games with enhanced video and sound.

NBC-owned stations and some Gray Media affiliates leveraged Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive audio to enhance the over-the-air viewing experience of the Paris Olympics.

The network also enhanced the visual and sound experience of cable TV and Peacock streaming viewers by offering the Paris Games in Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos or both.

A new case study examines:

• NBC and Gray’s use of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.
• Why HDR and immersive audio are so critical to TV broadcasting.
• The central role of NextGen TV.
• NBC and Dolby’s combined strategy to promote the Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos NextGen TV telecasts online and on-air.

Click here to read.

LAS VEGAS—At this week’s CES here (Jan. 7-10), the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is showcasing a number of new NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 receivers, gear, services and improvements to the broadcasting standard at its booth in Central Hall 20340.

The group reported that a host of new ATSC 3.0 receivers and enhanced broadcast services will reach U.S. consumers this year, with RCA launching a lineup of NextGen TV sets and new ATSC 3.0 accessory receivers from ADTH, MyVelo, Stavix, Vbox, Zapperbox and Zinwell among the new consumer products showcased at ATSC’s booth.

Expanded High Dynamic Range, interactive gaming, and digital signage options are also on show this week, as local stations and networks take advantage of the key benefits of next-generation broadcasting—including the ability to launch virtual channels with internet connections, the group said.

The displays come at as the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard is now widely deployed in the U.S., South Korea and Jamaica, with Brazil also recommending ATSC 3.0 to power its DTV+ service. Additionally, tests of ATSC 3.0 broadcasts are on the air in Trinidad and Tobago, India, Mexico, and Canada, the group said.

“More than three-quarters of U.S. viewers now have access to NextGen TV broadcasts, and at CES we’re very pleased to see the addition of RCA as a sixth TV manufacturer to join the roster of those offering NextGen TV sets, a list that now includes nearly 100 different receiver models,” Madeleine Noland, president of ATSC, said. “The first affordable USB-style receivers will also soon be available from ADTH for Android and Fire TV devices. These new products will reach even more consumers, with millions already enjoying NextGen TV receivers at home.” Panasonic recently returned to the U.S. television market with several OLED models powered by Fire TV equipped with NextGen TV electronics, and the addition of RCA in 2025 will bring even more choices to consumers planning a display upgrade.

More specifically, the group said that technologies from six TV and six accessory device manufacturers are on display this week at the ATSC booth at CES, including more than a dozen different types of NextGen TV products, device software offerings from Tolka and Mirakulo, the Run3TV broadcast application, and Advanced HDR from Technicolor. NextGen TV displays from Hisense, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, RCA, and TCL are in the ATSC exhibit, as are ATSC 3.0 accessory receivers from ADTH, MyVelo, Stavix, Vbox, Zapperbox, and Zinwell.

In addition, ATSC’s NextGen TV “Wall of Champions” in its booth highlights growing investment across the ecosystem. “We invite CES attendees to experience all these innovations in person at the booth. Plan your visit for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7, to join us for a much-deserved coffee break sponsored by Rohde & Schwarz,” Noland said.

ATSC will be showcasing NextGen TV’s ability to transmit digital data for new purposes such as digital signage. ATSC will feature a new signage kiosk equipped with everything necessary to offer messaging—including an antenna for over-the-air reception, a receiver and on-board storage and playback. In the ATSC booth, the signage kiosk managed by USSI Global will feature local headline news, traffic and weather updates, emergency alerting and advertising messages and promotions from KTVN-TV, the Las Vegas ABC affiliate owned by E.W. Scripps.

Also on display will be enhanced services from broadcasters for HDR and interactivity.

More than 200 NextGen TV services in the U.S. now include HDR, with many also adding immersive Dolby Atmos audio to daily broadcasts, the group said.

At CES, Sinclair is showing a side-by-side demonstration of the eye-popping consumer benefits of HDR, highlighting the enhanced picture quality made possible with ATSC 3.0 HDR broadcasts compared to standard ATSC 1.0 digital TV broadcasts. Local stations started adding HDR to sports broadcasts in 2024, greatly expanding offerings that take advantage of what the ATSC 3.0 standard makes possible. Today, more than 80 million viewers have access to NextGen TV with HDR.

In terms of interactivity, ATSC said that many stations are enhancing local content with the Run3TV broadcast app, which offers on-demand programming from local stations and opens the door for interactive content such as program restart and hyperlocal weather forecasts. The ATSC exhibit will also demonstrate gaming over NextGenTV by GameLoop, which is launching a new channel and its “Play Now” feature, which allows NextGen TV viewers to instantly play games showcased on the channel by using their TV remote or mobile phone.

In addition, broadcasters are also using the ATSC 3.0’s internet protocol backbone to add channels and local content streamed through internet connections, the group said.

For more information, visit www.atsc.org.

LAS VEGAS—RCA will introduce new 55- and 65-inch NextGen TVs here at CES 2025 (Jan. 7-10) with spring availability, the company said today.

“Now that 76% of American households have access to over-the-air NextGen TV from local broadcasters RCA is proud to launch two new NextGen TV models that come fully equipped with ATSC 3.0 reception electronics,” company president Tony Bozzini said. “Broadcasters across the country are now enhancing their signals with high dynamic range [HDR], and the new sets from RCA will deliver Advanced HDR from Technicolor to provide rich, vibrant colors that will make favorite shows pop like never before.”

The 65-inch RCA NextGen TV features up to 1,500 nits of peak brightness from its 664-zone Mini-LED QLED screens and will be offered at a suggested retail price of $949.99. The 55-inch model also features up to 1,500 nits of peak brightness from its 240-zone Mini-LED QLED screen and will carry a suggested retail price of $699.99, the company said.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with RCA as they bring their new TV products to market, featuring Advanced HDR by Technicolor technology,” Rick Dumont, head of business development for HDR at Philips, said.

“This integration underscores the growing adoption of our single-layer distribution mechanism, which streamlines production and distribution while delivering a superior viewing experience,” Dumont added. “As the most widely deployed HDR format in broadcasting, especially within NextGen TV through partnerships like Sinclair, Advanced HDR by Technicolor continues to set the standard for innovation.”

The new NextGen TVs offer a 144-Hz Game Mode PRO mode and allow gaming in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, as well as HDR10+ gaming. The sets include a built-in 2.1 speaker system with a built-in subwoofer and speaker audio system that supports Dolby Atmos and DTV Virtual-X, the company said.

Both models include hands-free voice control, including Google Assistant, and are smart-home-ready with Apple Home and Google Home. Chromecast and Airplay support are built-in.

Also at CES, RCA will show its new lineup of weatherproof, durable outdoor televisions designed to operate from minus 22 degrees to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.

More information is available on the company’s website.

It’s sometimes said that trying to get a group of broadcasters to do anything is like trying to herd cats, but if 2025 plays out as some broadcasters hope that feline finickiness will take a back seat to a unified push to promote NextGen TV to viewers.

Central to the effort is calling viewer attention to the fact that thanks to high dynamic range (HDR), NextGen TVs display a far higher-quality version of what they are accustomed to watching on legacy digital TVs.

With support for a color gamut (Rec. 2020) that has twice as many colors as television’s predecessor color gamut (Rec. 709) and the ability to display detail in shadows and highlights, HDR produces a noticeable difference—one that broadcasters hope to leverage to entice viewers to adopt NextGen TV.

“One of the things we are doing different is using lower thirds to say ‘HDR only available on NextGen TVs,” says Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, a business alliance of eight major TV station groups dedicated to advancing NextGen TV. “There are over 80 million HDR-enabled households in America, so those tickers will serve a purpose similar to what was done back in the days of transitioning from analog to HD.”

(Editor’s note: The Consumer Technology Association has estimated about 14 million NextGen TVs have been sold to date. The 80 million figure refers to U.S. households with HDR-enabled sets. Many would require an external ATSC 3.0 tuner to receive NextGen TV signals enhanced with HDR.)

Schelle points to Gray Television as one of the industry’s leaders in promoting HDR as well as immersive audio on-air and online to elevate viewer awareness of NextGen TV—not simply by describing what can be done but also by showing viewers these NextGen TV enhancements when they tune in to some stations’ ATSC 3.0 transmissions.

In May, Gray’s WAVE-TV in Louisville, Kentucky, presented NextGen TV coverage of the Kentucky Derby— and the fanfare in the days leading up to the race—to local viewers, enhanced with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive audio. Since then, eight of its NBC affiliates transmitted the Paris Summer Olympics via NextGen TV with Dolby Vision HDR. Three of those stations also enhanced audio with immersive Dolby Atmos sound.

Recently, Gray has begun running a ticker in its 20 NextGen TV station markets on both its ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 signals to highlight the availability of HDR, so NextGen TV set owners recognize its presence and 1.0 set owners are enticed to learn more.

“Our thought is going back to the future—like in 2005 when you saw bugs that would say “available in high definition” before every football game and how that drove awareness for the last TV transition,” says Gray senior vice president of government relations Robert Folliard.

Sports and HDR
To date, about 200 ATSC 3.0 channels in the U.S. transmit HDR, whether it’s Dolby Vision, Advanced HDR by Technicolor or HDR10+, full-time. In other words, NextGen TV broadcasters don’t flip HDR on for sports and off for the rest of the day, Pearl TV spokesperson Dave Arland said.

However, high-profile sports attract more viewers, and many Americans tend to buy new televisions around these events. So, calling attention to the availability of HDR via NextGen TV has the potential to accelerate uptake.

“The month of January is going to be a lot of fun because of the football playoffs,” Schelle said. “We’re really trying to focus on sports and the Super Bowl.

“Over 50% of all TVs are sold between Black Friday [the day after Thanksgiving] and the Super Bowl. So, the month of January sees a big spike in sales right after the holidays. A lot of people buy TVs for the Super Bowl.”

This year marks the fifth holiday shopping season Pearl TV has promoted NextGen TV on air with commercials and other promos. As of mid-December, member stations had run 6,000 spots. Coinciding with the campaign—Pearl TV’s biggest to date—is the use of lower-thirds to promote HDR on NextGen TVs.

Gray Television is not alone in seeing the potential of tying HDR and sports together to build awareness and momentum for NextGen TV.

NBC Owned Television Stations transmitted NextGen TV coverage of the Paris Olympics with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive audio from its in 11 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, the Bay Area, Boston, Washington, D.C., Miami, San Diego and Hartford, Conn.

NBC and Dolby Laboratories worked together to promote how Dolby Vision and Atmos would enhance the viewing experience of NextGen TV viewers both on air and online in the station group’s New York and Bay Area markets.

In March, Sinclair announced it would begin carrying Tennis Channel’s T2 as a broadcast-enabled, streaming television (BEST) channel in all of its ATSC 3.0 markets. T2 programming would be presented using Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

In 2025, Sinclair will launch year-round promotion of NextGen TV—not simply focusing its efforts on tentpole events like the holidays, a Sinclair spokesperson said. However, details about the marketing campaign and whether or not leveraging HDR to call attention to NextGen TV will be part of the effort were not available.

What is known is Gray’s HDR on-screen promos are receiving a thumbs up from other broadcasters. “We’ve showed the [Gray] design to all of the station groups that have turned on HDR, and they're embracing it,” Schelle said.

“These tickers will let consumers know that HDR via NextGen TV is available, and you’ll see it come into play more and more as more stations turn on HDR,” she said.

Now is the right time to begin promoting HDR and other NextGen TV features, Folliard said.

“We think it is important to start promoting the features of NextGen that are available today so consumers know that there is something better out there, start asking questions and buy NextGen TVs,” he said.

Simply sending an OB vehicle to a remote venue to produce coverage of live sports or entertainment is no longer the only game in town.

Developments over the past several years have helped to drive a rethink about of how best to implement technologies and supporting workflows to maintain production excellence, adopt advancements in resolution and High Dynamic Range and work more efficiently—all while controlling costs.

In this November 2024 Webcast, TV Tech Contributing Editor Phil Kurz is joined by panelists Stephen Repass, vice president at Ross Production Services; Deon LeCointe, director of networked solutions at Sony Electronics; and Laurent Masia, director of product line management, managed switches at Netgear, for an insightful look at the latest developments.

You'll learn:

• Where REMI, virtualized production and other workflow advances stand.
• How more-efficient compression schemes are opening up new contribution possibilities
• Whether or not private and public 5G networks will prove to be real production game changers.
• How cloud-based alternatives to on-prem OB trucks are transforming workflows.
• The latest workflow developments, including distributed production.

NEW YORK—As the rollout of NextGen TV broadcasts hit a deployment milestone making them available in more than three out of four (76%) of U.S. households, Pearl TV is highlighting how local stations are adding new technologies offering improved audio and video capabilities as well as interactivity and other innovative features for TV viewers.  

NextGen TV broadcasts offering enhanced High Dynamic Range (HDR) started with sports broadcasts at the Kentucky Derby and this summer’s Olympic games and continues with the vast majority of NextGen TV stations upgrading to offer better video and audio experiences, the broadcaster-backed group reported. 

In addition, Pearl noted that new NextGen TV receivers are about to enter the market from Panasonic, which is re-entering the U.S. TV market, and from ADTH, which will soon introduce a tiny USB plug-in receiver to add NextGen TV to consumer’s existing screens. 

The announcements regarding new receivers, improved HDR and a new promotional campaign for NextGen TV were made just ahead of the NAB Show New York on October 9 and 10 when broadcasters from throughout the world converge on the Javits Center in Manhattan.

“Now that NextGen TV is available in 76 U.S. markets, local stations are enabling new features that deliver outstanding picture quality, immersive audio, and engaging applications designed to retain viewers on local broadcast services.," said Anne Schelle, managing director of the Pearl TV business group representing more than 800 local TV stations. "Nationwide, more than 500 services are now available on NextGen TV. High Dynamic Range is also available from broadcasters in some 80 million households to expand the breadth and depth of high-definition 1080p images with even more lifelike video. Multichannel broadcast audio is also on the move, with Dolby Atmos audio now available to some 32 million households,”

“We’re delighted that Panasonic is returning to the U.S. TV market with a full range of NextGen TV receivers that will be enabled with a software download later this year,” Schelle said, adding that "ADTH has a tiny new receiver no bigger than a USB stick, which can connect to an antenna and an existing TV to expand the reach of NextGen TV signals even deeper into American homes. These new products are just the latest consumer receivers in the market, including NextGen TV-certified receivers that are also security verified from Sony, Samsung, Hisense, TCL, ADTH, and Zinwell,”  

Pearl also announced that following November’s election, broadcasters nationwide will begin running promotional advertisements to explain the benefits of NextGen TV on nationwide stations.  

“This will be our third year running a professionally-produced NextGen TV broadcast campaign.  The effort has already reached millions of viewers on TV and online,” Schelle explained. “Those numbers and awareness are expected to grow now that several large metropolitan areas have added NextGen TV service over the past year.  Anywhere that NextGen TV is on the air, we’d like our member stations to run an informational campaign to let consumers know that they should be looking for the NextGen TV certification mark as they shop for new receivers during the holidays leading up to the big football games in early 2025,”  

Pearl is promoting HDR's benefits to consumers through explanatory sections of the WatchNextGenTV.com website and in-market TV promotion, where broadcasts have started with enhanced services.  

To learn more about HDR, Dolby ATMOS and interactive applications, visit the www.watchnextgentv.com consumer website.

In addition, Pearl is also promoting the interactivity features of NextGen TV that are made possible by the Run3TV broadcast application that works seamlessly with NextGen TV sets.

The built-in application in NextGen TV sets responds to over-the-air signals. It can enable a whole host of streamed programming  – including Program Re-Start capability- to start a show over if a viewer has joined the show midway.  Program Re-Start was introduced in selected markets this summer, along with weather information broadcast to NextGen TV sets so that viewers can get more value from their NextGen TV purchase with just a touch of a button.  

In addition, 46 U.S. markets also offer TV channels on NextGen TV that are delivered through internet connections, expanding the reach of local broadcasters and sports programming, whether those shows are broadcast over-the-air or arrive for viewing from an internet connection.

RIO DE JANEIRO—Advanced HDR by Technicolor, Fraunhofer IIS and Globo showcased high dynamic range (HDR) and MPEG-H Audio content that is compliant with Brazil's TV 2.5 standard on Hisense TVs during the just completed Paris Olympics.

The demonstration showed how standard dynamic range (SDR) content can be upconverted to deliver a premium viewing experience while watching live broadcasts of major outdoor sports  and other events, Advanced HDR by Technicolor said.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor delivered premium HDR content by leveraging the solution suite’s Intelligent Tone Mapping (ITM) feature to upconvert live SDR content to HDR while adding SL-HDR dynamic metadata to create a TV 2.5 HDR signal in an SDR backwards compatible manner. TVs that support the TV 2.5 standard received the HDR experience without compromising the quality of SDR delivered to legacy devices, it said. 

"HDR enhances outdoor sports event experiences by delivering the most vivid images to TVs capable of receiving HDR content," said Valerie Allie, Video Solution Group senior director with InterDigital. 

"As a result, the details of athletic performances, stadium environments and overall action are more vibrant, providing a more immersive viewing experience," she said.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor.

Fraunhofer IIS provided MPEG-H Audio technology that delivers an immersive 3D sound experience. The Next Generation Audio system provides unique personalization features in addition to an enveloping audio experience, said Fraunhofer.

This is made possible by the metadata accompanying the audio content. It contains all control information required for user interactivity and optimizing the reproduction and rendering on the end-device for the best audio experience on any platform, it said.

"MPEG-H Audio delivers an immersive experience, creating a sense of being in the middle of the action. Audio elements like the cheering crowd, athletes' movements and venue ambience are clear and realistic. The personalization options also allow viewers to customize the audio experience, by, for example, switching from a traditional to a venue mix. This enriched audio quality adds depth to the broadcast, making the experience more engaging and captivating for the audience," said Adrian Murtaza, senior manager technologies and standards at Fraunhofer IIS.

A new generation of Hisense TV models that comply with the country's TV 2.5 standards were used for the demonstration.

These advanced TV models promise to deliver a superior viewing experience by combining ultra-high-definition (UHD) and HDR-enhanced picture quality with immersive 3D sound.

"Hisense TVs integrate features like Mini-LED, Quantum Dot Color, 144Hz refresh rates, vibrant highlights, AI video processing and AI Sports Mode, which enhance the viewing of live sports. Hisense is looking forward to providing immersive visual and audio experiences that will redefine home entertainment in Brazil," said Wood Bi, assistant vice president of Hisense International.

More information is available on the Advanced HDR by Technicolor, Fraunhofer IIS and Hisense websites.

PARIS—Television viewers in 56 U.S. markets have access to coverage of the Paris Olympics in High Dynamic Range (HDR) thanks to broadcasters and NextGen TV, Pearl TV, a business organization of eight of the largest U.S. television groups, said today.

In total, about 73 million U.S. households live in markets where NextGen TV signals are now transmitted with HDR video. 

Some 12,000 NextGen TV sets and ATSC 3.0 accessory devices, such as 3.0 set-top boxes for legacy DTVs, are being sold to Americans daily, it said.

In all, broadcasters in 67 U.S. markets are transmitting a NextGen TV signal in HDR (not all are NBC affiliates or O&Os, thus the difference). 

Local markets were NextGen TV in HDR is available include:

• Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.
• Atlanta, Ga.       
• Austin, Texas          
• Baltimore, Md. 
• Baton Rouge, La.             
• Birmingham, Ala.              
• Boston, Mass.       
• Buffalo, N.Y.                       
• Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill.      
• Charleston-Huntington, W.V.     
• Charleston, S.C.
• Chicago, Ill.        
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Columbus, Ohio
• Dayton, Ohio     
• Denver, Colo.       
• Des Moines-Ames, Iowa  
• El Paso, Texas        
• Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Mich.        
• Fresno-Visalia, Calif.        
• Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich.      
• Green Bay-Appleton, Wisc.             
• Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C.    
• Greenville-Spartanburg, SC-Asheville, N.C.        
• Hartford-New Haven, Conn.           
• Honolulu, Hawaii    
• Indianapolis, Ind.           
• Las Vegas, Nev. 
• Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Ark.           
• Los Angeles, Calif.             
• Louisville, Ky.    
• Miami - Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.         
• Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minn.        
• Mobile, AL-Pensacola, Fla.                          
• Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C.       
• Nashville, Tenn.   
• New Orleans, La.            
• New York, N.Y.                   
• Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va.            
• Oklahoma City, Okla.       
• Omaha, Nebr.       
• Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Fla.            
• Philadelphia, Pa.             
• Pittsburgh, Pa.  
• Portland-Auburn, Maine   
• Portland, Ore.                    
• Raleigh-Durham, N.C.                   
• Reno, Nev.                            
• Richmond-Petersburg, Va.                         
• Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va.             
• Rochester, N.Y .
• Sacramento, Calif.             
• Salt Lake City, Utah                           
• San Antonio, Texas                              
• San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif. 
• Seattle-Tacoma, Wash.                    
• Shreveport, La.
• South Bend-Elkhart, Ind.              
• Springfield-Holyoke, Mass.             
• Springfield, Mo.               
• St. Louis, Mo.                   
• Syracuse, N.Y.                   
• Tampa-St Petersburg-Sarasota, Fla.                      
• Tucson, Ariz.        
• Washington, D.C.                             
• West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, Fla.                              
• Wichita - Hutchinson, Kans.      

 More information is available on the Pearl TV website. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Fresh off a successful effort to elevate the quality of its video and audio NextGen TV signal to Louisville, Ky., viewers watching WAVE-TV’s Kentucky Derby coverage with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and immersive audio, Gray Television is at it again.

This time the broadcast group will offer NextGen TV viewers in eight of its NBC markets the Paris Olympics in HDR when they open Wednesday, July 24. Viewers in three of those markets also will be able to listen to immersive audio of the games.

As with the Derby, the stations will upconvert the network’s standard dynamic range HD video feed and audio mix to Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive sound.

While the effort will enhance the viewing experience of NextGen TV households, the endeavor takes on added significance because the station group sees the broadcasts as another critical step in promoting NextGen TV to the public.

In this interview, Rob Folliard, senior vice president of government relations and distribution at Gray TV, discusses the station group’s HDR and immersive audio deployment, its plans beyond sports, when it might begin offering the enhancements as part of its NextGen TV broadcasts of other network partners and why broadcasters should waste no time stepping up their efforts to promote NextGen TV.

(An edited transcript.) 

TVTech: How many local Gray Television stations will be offering the Paris Olympics as NextGen TV with HDR and immersive sound?

Rob Folliard: We have eight NBC affiliates that are broadcasting a 3.0 signal right now. I expect all of them will be up and running in HDR by the Paris Olympics. I know for certain at least three of the eight will also have immersive audio—Dolby Atmos. 

TVT: The Paris Olympics deployment of NextGen TV HDR and immersive audio follows a similar deployment for this year’s Kentucky Derby at Gray TV’s WAVE-TV in Louisville. What lessons did you learn from that experience?

RF: A lot of it is related to the marketing and promotion side. We marketed and promoted the heck out of it, and we saw a reaction locally.

We also partnered with a consumer electronics store as well to give away NextGen TVs, and that was successful. We're copying a lot of the promotional effort that we did in Louisville for the Derby. We’re using the Olympics, as well, just to let people know about NextGen TV and create a buzz.

At this stage, that's the most important thing: to let viewers know what we're doing and creating that buzz so people want to buy TVs. Then, if we can turn that into some advertising campaigns in partnership with local retailers, all the better. I think it really was the promotion where the Kentucky Derby project was successful, and we want to model that for the Paris Olympics.

TVT: Can you offer a little more detail on how you are promoting NextGen TV for the Olympics?

RF: We're already promoting the Olympics, so now we're including tags and other info in those promotions that say, “And you can watch the Olympics in HDR.” So, a lot of it we're doing anyway, but now we’re also adding the HDR message. In those markets where there's immersive audio, then we’re adding the Dolby Atmos immersive audio message as well. 

We are also promoting HDR and immersive audio online on our station websites where viewers can learn more. There isn’t a national retail partner, but ideally each market will find a partner.

TVT: Like the Kentucky Derby, your NBC affiliates for the Olympics will be offering the public HDR in the form of Dolby Vision and immersive audio in the form of Dolby Atmos. How did you decide on Dolby’s implementations?

RF: Dolby's been the gold standard for decades. So that was pretty easy. Certainly, on the audio side of things. Dolby has been a great partner for NextGen in general. They've been supportive the whole way. They have involved themselves. They have made themselves available, and they provided a lot of information for our promotion and our marketing as well. I know Dolby is partnering with some other broadcasters promoting the Olympics. 

Dolby's aggressive, and they want to promote NextGen TV, and that goes hand in hand with what we want.

TVT: It won’t be long until we are past the Olympics and into college football and the NFL. Will there be the same technical setup for football? NFL? College?

RF: That's the goal. We are working with our network partners at CBS, Fox and ABC in order to get the necessary approvals. As you know, there are many different special sauces of HDR, and to the extent any network has a preference—like NBC has a specific LUT [Look Up Table] that they want everyone to use—great.  We'll do that if the network has certain specs. We want to work with them on that to make sure we don't get crosswise with anyone.

TVT: What are Gray TV’s plans with respect to other markets where your stations are affiliated with other networks? Are there plans to follow suit in those markets? 

RF: Absolutely. NBC was the priority because of the Olympics. We saw the Olympics as an obvious tentpole segment in August, so NBC had to go first. Then, we expect to have everybody up by the fall for football. Because, you know, nothing moves the needle –nothing makes TV sell—like football. 

The bulk of the TV sets are always sold in the second half of the year, in the fall, and then in the winter during the holiday buying season. It's because of football. So, the promotional campaign will work perfectly well, making it available for football.

TVT: What about the rest of the schedule—beyond sports?

RF: With NBC, we're already doing it 24/7. In Louisville, the moment we turned on the upconversion, it was the full 24/7 stream. It was all of our news, all of our syndicated content, all of our local content and all of NBC’s content.

It'll be the same thing with Fox, CBS and ABC. It'll be the full 24/7 stream that'll be upconverted to HDR so when there are other high profile events in the fall, they'll all be in HDR.

TVT: Obviously, there’s more to NextGen TV than HDR and immersive audio. There’s also program restart and interactive and on-demand content that Gray’s looking to take advantage of? How is that playing out?

RF: They are all coming. Restart is on our menu of things to get launched in the relatively near future. We aren't there just yet, but I expect it'll be up in the next couple of months. At that point, there’s another NextGen TV feature that is promotable, consumer-friendly and is the type of feature that's going to make TVs sell. 

Restart is the most popular feature in Europe with their HbbTV. We'll lean on the lessons that our fellow broadcasters in Europe learned by promoting that. 

Many people from all the different departments within Gray will be meeting within the next couple of weeks to really strategize on how we want to promote this. What can we do? What do we think consumers will like?

We want to get everyone in the company thinking about what NextGen can do. They can take that back to their departments and their teams and start coming up with ideas.

You know, we've now built it out to where it makes sense to start experimenting with NextGen TV features to see what sticks. Given the viewership data we're able to pull for NextGen sets, it's going to be very quick and easy for us to tell what was successful. We'll be able to learn much more quickly than we ever could in the past.

TVT: Pearl TV, to which Gray belongs, has promoted NextGen TV to the public for several years, especially around the holiday buying season. Here Gray is promoting it in conjunction with major sporting events like the Derby and the Olympics. What’s your message to other broadcasters when it comes to promoting NextGen TV?

RF: I think it's critical that we all start promoting NextGen TV, and we all make it more visible. This is the future of our industry. The DTV standard was developed in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. We can't continue to broadcast with the best technology of 1988, and that's what we’re doing. We need to move forward to a modern IP-based technology. It's not 1988 anymore.

We're not just competing with ourselves. We're competing with Google, Apple, YouTube and Amazon. If they have a better product than we do, then we're going to be in trouble. If they have a better technology than we do, then we're in trouble. We need to keep pace with our real competitors out there, and NextGen is the way to do it. 

But not only do we need to complete this transition, we also need to let consumers know. We need to make consumers excited to buy TVs to watch NextGen because it doesn't do any good if we complete this transition and nobody owns a TV.

We've got a short window to get all of this done and to remain competitive with the streamers who have the advantage of an IP-based system where they can run targeted ads, they can run addressable advertising. We need to catch up, and NextGen TV is our last, best opportunity to do so.

PHILADELPHIA— Comcast has unveiled new details of its plans for offering enhanced 4K from Xfinity and said that its first enhanced 4K feeds will be available as part of USA Network’s 24/7 coverage of the Paris Olympics. 

Enhanced 4K combines 4K video delivered via Comcast’s network, Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range and Dolby Atmos immersive audio with ultra-low latency ensuring on-screen action lags live action from Paris by only seconds, it said.

“The Olympics is the best example of how Comcast can bring together its fantastic sports content, entertainment platforms, and innovative technology and connectivity offerings to deliver one-of-a-kind experiences to customers,” said Vito Forlenza, vice president of Sports Entertainment at Comcast. “By premiering enhanced 4K during Paris 2024, fans of the Olympics will be among the first to experience this new innovation and enjoy all the live action in stunning picture and audio quality, with significantly less delay compared to anything else in the market.”

The launch of enhanced 4K follows a successful trial of the technology during the 2024 Super Bowl.

X1 customers can find the enhanced 4K feed within X1’s Olympics destination, which features curated and personalized access to every minute of coverage across the networks of NBCUniversal, including NBC, USA Network, E!, CNBC, GOLF Channel, Telemundo, Universo, two new Paris Extra channels featuring 24/7 Olympics programming, as well as streaming on Peacock. Accessible by saying “Olympics” into the voice remote, the destination features new capabilities that make enjoying coverage of the games simple, easy and intuitive. 

The Comcast described the new capabilities as follows: 

• Personalized experience across devices. Customers can choose their favorite sports to build a custom destination that makes it simple to find live coverage, event replays and a personalized playlist of highlights. Favorites carry over to the Xfinity Stream app for viewing on the go.
• Comprehensive and interactive schedule of events. An interactive daily schedule, giving customers one comprehensive guide of all live and upcoming events airing across NBCUniversal’s cable and broadcast networks and streaming on Peacock. 
• Catch-Up Highlights on X1 enable customers to jump to top moments in recorded primetime and daytime coverage on NBC as well as men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, and golf.
• 4K, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos on Xfinity Stream. Watching via the Xfinity Stream app enables customers to view 4K picture quality while watching USA Network’s 24/7 coverage. For the first time they also will be able to unlock Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive sound via the Xfinity Stream app on compatible streaming devices and TVs.
• Team Comcast Profiles of 16 Olympians and Paralympians.
• Venue Tours.
• Xfinity Sports Zone App, featuring Odds Zone, a new sports betting experience that makes it easy for customers to follow live odds and initiate wagers on the DraftKings Sportsbook mobile app.

More information is available on the company’s website.

Of all the new technologies offered to film and TV production in the last decade or two, HDR probably received the warmest immediate reception. While single-camera production has been an early adopter, the demands of producing legacy formats side by side—and in real time—has made HDR slower to grow into multicamera work.

Kevin Salvidge, Sales Engineering and Technical Marketing Manager at Leader/Phabrix referred to a recent EBU session on the subject, noting the complexities involved. “They are concerned that this is appearing too complicated, and that’s preventing HDR [from] becoming mainstream—the knowledge and the power is in the hands of a few people,” he said. “If you’ve got one of those people on your production, bingo, the world’s your oyster. If not, how do you do this?”

The answer, Salvidge goes on, will involve both new equipment and new techniques, but decisions made now are likely to be foundational. “We are currently defining the workflows for the next twenty years,” he said. “The workflows that now seem to be universally adopted are a single master production. The vision mixer is cutting UHD, wide color gamut HDR, so any sources that are not 4K, wide color gamut, high dynamic range are upconverted. That’s close to the workflow the BBC used for the coronation.”

Little Room for Error
As a supplier of test-and-measurement equipment, Phabrix might not ordinarily expect to be involved in that sort of signal processing. Salvidge describes a process of convergence: “The HDR supervisor is the only person who sees HDR Images, and is having to compare both of them. The camera will also output HDR and this is normally where a conversion product sits. And if you’ve got a production, let’s say the FIFA world cup final, with 42 cameras, that’s a lot of kit, a lot of potential to go wrong.”

With Leader and Phabrix now under the same umbrella, some efficiencies have been realized, Salvidge adds. “What we’ve done with the Leader product is the ability for a LUT to be loaded into the waveform monitor, so now you remove that conversion product,” Salvidge says. “You switch on the LUT and you can see the picture, waveform, vectorscope, and the CIE color chart, and the beauty of that is the same LUT is being applied on the output of the truck as well.”

That kind of technical consolidation helps everyone, though Salvidge tells us that the concerns of vision engineering for HDR has also provoked some changes in tools, too.

“The Leader and Phabrix products, in the old days, used to display one analysis tool, or a quad split with four of them,” Salvidge says. “If you’re doing HDR, you need the picture, the waveform, the vector, the CIE chart, and you may be monitoring other parameters as well. You need to have more than four tools.

“So now you’ve got this customizable layout, on both products, which allows you to save it for a particular operation you’re doing,” he added. “We have a lot of freelance people who walk around with their setup on a flash key.”

There will, however, always be considerations which are creative, and harder to characterize on a test-and-measurement display, as Salvidge points out. “They’ve changed the way they shoot. Originally they’d focus on, say, a skier. You have very skilled camera operators, three or 4 km away. They’ll pick up a stick man doing almost 100 kph and they’d have a fairly wide shot. The guys who did the HDR testing said 90% of the screen was white, but you now see them frame the shot so you get the forest in the side… it changed the way they thought about the production, how they framed the shot.”

‘We’re the Plumbers’
With HDR likely to coexist with conventional pictures for the foreseeable future, trucks will be producing two separate outputs—but production has long demanded different outputs for different distributors.

Ralph Bachofen, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Triveni says his company deals less with the picture content and more with the way it’s moved around.

“I’ll differentiate between quality of service and quality of experience,” Bachofen begins. “We’re focussing on the transport layer. We do monitor the experience, we look at black frames, but… we’re focussing on the signaling aspects of it. We’re the plumbers.”

Distribution to vastly different platforms can make things even more complicated, as Bachofen explains. “A lot of people do a number of streams or production environments for different formats. You have very country-specific encoding requirements. How do I hand off these requirements to my main broadcast? How do I hand it off to my channel partners? You see a lot of encoding going on, a lot of activity in this field.”

The move toward IP, Bachofen reflects, makes for a lot of rationalization, with entirely new features as well as new maintenance demands.

“Can you make a box that does all of it?” Bachofen muses. “The answer’s yes—our StreamScopes handle multiple simultaneous stream inputs. You don’t want a box per stream, you want a single box that does multiple ingest.

“We have a large engineering staff who work on these requirements, and it’s not just video,” he adds. “There’s the vast requirement you get for security patches on the OS. The minute you put a device on an intranet, their IT departments require you to have the latest and greatest security patches.”

That unity of purpose can stretch the definition of test and measurement to provide an overview of an entire operation, a market need Triveni addressed at the 2024 NAB Show with the launch of Station Manager.

“Say, at 3 a.m., you want to do some datacasting… you add this in the Station Manager and you want to push this down to individual devices,” Bachofen said. “We look at whether this is a valid configuration. We help the engineering staff in each station to ensure they have valid configurations of the whole broadcast chain.”

Customer Feedback
Interra Systems is another QA provider that focuses on monitoring the entire production chain as well. The range of issues that can arise are more numerous than ever, particularly when it comes to HDR.

“Working with UHD, HDR files involves managing multiple aspects, including resolution, wide color gamut, high dynamic range, and frame rates,” the company wrote in a recent blog. “Each of these factors can contribute to different quality issues. Potential problems could manifest as blurriness, digital ghosting, color banding, and tone mapping. These issues may arise from mishandling wide color gamut, HDR metadata, or improper frame rate adjustments. It is crucial to adopt tools to address these conditions and ensure a smooth transition between HD and UHD content.

Many media workflows involve up-converting 1080p HD content to 4K UHD and processing both standard dynamic range (SDR) and HDR outputs. However, mix-and-match scenarios introduce their own set of problems,” the company said. “Upscaling the resolution can introduce artifacts like blurriness, digital ghosting, etc. Likewise, frame rate up-conversion can lead to temporal artifacts for e.g., motion jerks. Upscaling the dynamic range and color can lead to color banding.

Most of these new features are already part of Interra’s BATON file QC solution, according to Interra.

“First and foremost, we have ensured that we have complete format support right from capture to delivery. This includes capture and distribution formats like TIFF, SonyRaw, DPX, ProRES, AVC, HEVC etc. On the QC side, we have already added support for Color Banding, Digital Ghosting, Aliasing, Motion Jerk, measurement of Light Levels for HDR and more. Feedback from the customers is key here.”

The technology for supplying that chain with HDR material, meanwhile, requires technology which is still growing in maturity. Charlie Dunn, senior vice president and general manager of Test & Measurement at Telestream, describes some new solutions to the vision engineering challenges of HDR.

As Dunn puts it, “a vectorscope in HDR space isn’t that useful. What’s more useful is a CIE chart [color space], but that’s a 1930s thing, and it’s not that great for determining if you're out of bounds. We’ve made a number of innovations—we’ve pitched a couple of papers at SMPTE, and we’re working on that toolset.”

Bringing the long-established competence of experienced people into such a new discipline requires some lateral thinking Dunn adds.

“People are so used to looking at a waveform and vectorscope to shade the camera. So, we’ve given them additional tools—one of them is a false color map. You can look at the greens on the pitch, the white lines, the reds of a jersey, so you can make sure they’re in bounds. If they’re not, they turn to a cyan or some unnatural color, so the operator can check the colors are right.”

The complexities of HDR have sometimes led to a degree of engineering conservatism, often with the result that color is limited to a range that’s actually somewhat less than could ideally be achieved.

“People are really interested in whether the CIE chart is going outside the P3 color space,” Dunn muses. “But that’s based on displays of 10 years ago. I have a feeling that’ll go by the wayside. I don’t see a lot of people doing that—I think it’s a problem they currently have and is not something they’ll constrain themselves to going forward.”

With that in mind, Dunn says, Telestream has sought advice from people who do this on a daily basis.

“Someone like Sky has some tremendous engineers, and we’ve worked really closely with them on adjusting our tools,” Dunn said. “They have a really long roadmap for us of things they’d like to see. They're looking at it from the point of view of how can I make things easy for the operator. That’s how false color came about, that’s how the luma-qualified CIE charts came about. I’d say on a scale of 1-10, we’re probably at a three. There’s a lot of ground for us to cover.”

The transition that’s in progress, Dunn says, is not quite like those which have come before.

“A lot of people are doing things in different ways. In the transition to UHD, nobody really had to do anything differently. Going to HDR, especially for people using test and measurement gear, I think over the next five years the best methodologies will find their way to the top. How people build their facilities, what they make remote, what they decide to put in the cloud, on the basis of having experience. We worry about the screen area which is ten inches across—we worry about how much information we can display in a small space!”

“But it’s good for us,” Dunn concludes. “It means they need more test equipment!”

PARIS—Citius, Altius, Fortius has traditionally been the motto for the Olympic Games, Latin words for “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.” In 2021, the motto was officially modified to be Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter, meaning “Swifter, Higher, Stronger – Together.”

As we roll up to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, July 26-Aug. 11, NBC, the official U.S. broadcaster for the games, will demonstrate its interpretation of the motto with a broadcast that is swifter, higher and stronger. The network has been working for nearly two years in both Paris and at the NBC Sports hub in Stamford, Conn., to ensure that everything has been pulled together, according to Darryl Jefferson, senior vice president of engineering and technology for NBC Olympics and Sports.

Pre-Configured, Pre-Tested and Pre-Installed
This will be Jefferson’s first games as head of NBC Olympics’ tech operations, succeeding long-time veteran Dave Mazza, who retired in 2022. Jefferson has been with NBC Olympics since 2008, managing Post Production and Asset Management teams and was instrumental in the development of the networks’ innovative Highlights Factory/Asset Management System.

“We started design and peer review about 20 months ago, with build, configure and test in our integration facility,” Jefferson said. “We tested video paths, workflows, delivery mechanisms and failure modes all before items shipped out. We ship gear mostly pre-configured, pre-installed, and pre-tested, for both speed of deployment and for peace of mind.”

With a broadcast as complex as the Olympics, with numerous venues and the need to integrate feeds from the primary Olympics video system, the number of moving parts is staggering. Take something like the intercom system—viewers are never aware of it, but it plays a crucial role in coordinating between all the different venues and crews.

“It has indeed been quite a challenge,” he said. “Our dedicated comms group has especially focused on inter-communication with our large presence in Stamford. Candidly, managing those comms-trunking resources at this size and scale has required re-thinking and expanding many of our core resources, and resources that are also sent out at our venues, as well. Part of the challenge of lashing up two cities far apart is seamlessly allowing folks to communicate.”

Seamless to Viewers
Moving its system to a new Olympics venue every two years is an incredible challenge, but NBC will ensure viewers will see a seamless broadcast—so seamless that many may not realize that although the action is happening in Paris, many of the commentators and on-air talent will be in Stamford.

(Read: NBC to Air Record Amount of Live Paris Olympics Coverage)

Among many benefits of this Paris-to-Stamford approach is that the network has less equipment to rip out and relocate—or abandon—after each Olympic broadcast. It seems counter-intuitive that having two such widely separated technical areas and operations is more efficient than having it all in one place, but the reality is that separation increases speed and efficiency.

“The biggest leap is splitting large parts of our team between Paris and Stamford,” Jefferson said. “Transporting large quantities of cameras, effects gear and studios full of equipment all the way home has historically not been financially viable. In some cases, the latency was unacceptable. That split approach allows us to cover more sports with fewer total people traveling than just a few Games ago.”

However, between the time of the old four-year cycle and the new two-year cycle that took effect 30 years ago, the industry has gone through a revolution in connectivity and capability.

“With new tools, robust networks, capacity with cloud infrastructure, and the ability to approach signal transport differently, there exists a whole host of new options today,” he said.

Emerging Technologies
High-end sports broadcasts are among the first to use emerging technologies, and NBC’s preparation to broadcast more than 5,000 hours of live Olympics coverage from Paris is no exception. Add in the complexity of covering a sporting event spread over several arenas and locations, and it’s like preparing for the Super Bowl… times 10.

Jefferson and his team found there were several new things that had to be handled carefully for this Olympics broadcast, which will be broadcast in 4K/HDR and 5.1.4 immersive audio.

(Read: Peacock to Use AI-Generated Al Michaels' Voice for Recaps of Olympic Games)

“It may be a tie between getting HDR support everywhere we may need it, and the large cut over to support IP in many places,” he said. “Although we’ve had important experience with both, there exist so many devices, solutions, vendors and third parties that do not support wide color gamut today, or equipment through which color information doesn’t survive.

“Testing every graphics device or element of delivery to ensure all is consistent has required a decent amount of patience,” Jefferson added. “In a similar way, building a resilient and nimble IP system has also been a process.”

I assumed that the native Olympic video infrastructure would be 4K/UHD. However, Jefferson said that is not the case. “Our format is 1080p HDR [HLG] at 50Hz,” he said. “We are thrilled that this mezzanine format will be supported at every venue and site.”

As you might imagine, a very large number of vendors provide the gear to make the broadcasts work. In addition to the gear that NBC brings to the Olympics, the Olympics organization has its own broadcast service that works behind the scenes and supports all national broadcasters. The Olympics Broadcast Services (OBS) positions all the cameras at the events and provides feeds and much more to the dozens of national broadcasters, including NBC.

“We have worked with OBS on their camera positions and event orchestration,” Jefferson said. “We also worked with Sony on switchers, cameras and monitors, with EVS on replay devices and IP orchestration, with Grass Valley/Cisco on core /IP routing, Avid on editing and asset management, Chyron on graphics, Riedel on SimplyLive, and so many more.”

‘Healthy Mixture’ of IP and SDI
One of the most basic decisions assembling a system of this size is where to use the SMPTE ST 2110 IP video standard and where to use the older SMPTE SDI standard. Where and how these two are used makes a big difference in how signals are routed, and routing signals at the Olympics is one of the core tasks.

“We have a healthy mixture of both, but are about 60% ST 2110 handoff, venue and core orchestration,” Jefferson said. “In some cases, we support both formats within a Tech Center, or gateway translation to convert one to the other. Fortunately, we have spent the last few Games [since Tokyo] making the transition over time, and certainly learning all the lessons.”

(Read: NBCU to Expand Accessibility Efforts to Record Levels of Summer Olympics)

Jefferson detailed how the NBC Olympics team took IP/SDI integration step-by-step in order to maximize compatibility and minimize conflicts. “First [we used] a lifeboat router, larger core switches, and a split router in support of both HDR/SDR,” he said. Now [we have] one single format, signal redundancy and a streamlined approach. Each of these steps has been critical in uncovering the complexity and flexibility of IP.”

In addition to SDI and ST 2110, NBC is also using some of NewTek’s semi-proprietary Network Device Interface (NDI) standard. “We are using NDI in some areas, specifically NDI v6, with support of HDR and enhanced audio,” Jefferson said.

Viewer Insight
Jefferson promised a host of new features for NBC’s broadcast of the Summer Olympics. A lot of it sounds technical, but the goal is to give the viewer insight that wasn’t previously possible.

“We have a whole trove of new technology, some of which is well behind the camera [ST 2110 and Dante, HDR and ATMOS everywhere], new encoding mezzanine formats, and also a good deal of enhancements to bring viewers further behind the scenes,” he said. “Backstage cameras, audio from coaches, cameras in the stands with families, even biometrics on family and coaches. The goal of all this technology is to bring more elements of storytelling around each athlete’s journey.”

The Olympics are more than just another big sporting event. It is an international cultural experience, a massive stage on which scandals are magnified and missteps are ridiculed. Bad guys have been known to use this hyper-focus of media to perpetrate big crimes—and viewers expect that such coverage will be captured with all the depth and clarity of the sports events themselves.

However, the winning part of the broadcast is the part that tells the small stories: The struggles, burdens, perseverance and stamina of the individuals who participate. When the camera shows the sweat on a face and fierceness in the eyes, it is giving you what you can only get from an experienced and well-equipped television crew.

This summer, NBC stands poised to deliver its best Olympics yet.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—After several years of rolling out NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0 broadcasts to more than 75% of American homes, stations are increasingly adding new features to those services with new interactive features and greatly improved quality for video and audio. 

The Pearl TV consortium of major U.S. broadcast station groups is now reporting that since the NAB Show in April, the number of broadcasters using NextGen TV broadcasts to deliver high dynamic range (HDR) video has jumped and that HDR is now available in 57 TV markets covering more than 70 million homes. 

In addition a large group of stations has begun offering interactive capabilities with the flexible RUN3TV broadcast web platform.

“High Dynamic Range is now a reality in 57 TV markets, with HDR now available to more than 70 million viewers across the country,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, a consortium of TV station groups that has overseen many of the voluntary market launches of the new NextGen TV technology.   “Since the first local broadcast of a high-stakes sports event with the Kentucky Derby last month, even more NextGen TV stations have upgraded to offer High Dynamic Range.  Louisville viewers got an eyeful and an earful with the rich pageantry of the Derby that brought Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range and the Dolby Atmos audio system to those watching WAVE-TV at home.  Viewership of NextGen TV at WAVE doubled during Derby week, and we expect improved picture and sound to drive similar interest in future sporting events.  That’s why HDR, in all its flavors, is so very important to viewers and to stations,” 

Pearl has started promoting the benefits of HDR to consumers, through both explanatory sections of the WatchNextGenTV.com website and also with in-market TV promotion where broadcasts have started with enhanced services.  

(To learn more about HDR, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos, visit the www.watchnextgentv.com consumer website.)

RUN3TV, the interactive broadcast application platform, is also winning supporters.  Sinclair Broadcast Group recently added more than 60 station apps to the RUN3TV platform with the added ability to provide enhanced emergency alerting, as the broadcast app platform works toward deployment in some 200 stations by year end.

Pearl TV reported that for broadcasters, RUN3TV is a game-changer, making it easy to integrate essential and advanced features across various platforms, while also allowing for the customization of unique services and content. This platform enhances broadcasters’ ability to gather detailed viewership data, offering insights that help tailor content directly to viewer preferences. With RUN3TV, broadcasters can provide seamless access to applications like ”start over” functionality and advanced emergency alerts.  RUN3TV also significantly improves content discovery and viewer engagement.

Built on the RUN3TV broadcast application platform, NBCUniversal is now delivering enhanced digital features on its NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations across the nation currently broadcasting in ATSC 3.0. The personalized and customizable experiences include hyper-local weather data, content features such as program restart, as well as access to on-demand clips, full episodes, and alternate programming, and integrated public safety alerts. The innovation, which launched April 15, takes advantage of one of the key benefits of NextGen TV – the ability to marry linear broadcast service with broadband connections.  The application launches automatically when a viewer tunes to the NBC or Telemundo station, and was created in partnership with Fincons, Ease Live (an Evertz company), and RUN3TV. 

More NextGen TV products are also becoming available. In the runup to annual meeting of the Advanced Television Systems Committee in Washington, D.C. on June 13 and 14, TCL has started shipping its first TV products enabled with NextGen TV reception.  TCL’s NextGen TV  lineup joins four other manufacturers of TV receivers expected to sell millions of NextGen TV sets this year. By year end, five affordable upgrade accessory devices are expected to be available, adding even more units to expected sales of NextGen TV products.

“Each day, consumers are buying and unpacking more than 12,000 NextGen TV products – from accessory devices to NextGen TV sets, plus accessory add-ons like new TV antenna options.  The addition of better quality pictures and sound and interactive applications ushers in a new era for local stations, all powered by ATSC 3.0 and NextGen TV,” Schelle said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—In another sign that broadcasters are finally using NextGen TV broadcasts to offer viewers new features instead of simply simulcasting existing feeds, Gray Television has announced several key initiatives to advance the NextGen TV transition and bring more of the benefits of this new standard to viewers in Gray’s local communities. 

In the runup to the Kentucky Derby, Gray announced that its NBC affiliate WAVE(TV) in Louisville, Kentucky, became the first affiliate of a major network to broadcast all of its programming using High Dynamic Range (HDR) with Dolby Vision and immersive sound using Dolby Atmos. 

The “always on” feature ensures that all of WAVE(TV)’s local and network content, including more than 30 hours of Gray’s live, local coverage from Churchill Downs starting with WAVE(TV)’s local morning news at 5:00am on Monday April 29 through the late evening news at 11:00pm on Saturday May 4 and including the key horse races in between, will all be in HDR with immersive sound.

“With HDR and immersive sound, WAVE(TV)’s programming will pop. Viewers will immediately notice the enhanced contrast between the brightest and darkest colors on the screen,” said John O’Brien, WAVE(TV)’s general manager.

Gray also announced that in Las Vegas, Gray’s Fox affiliate KVVU(TV) was the first commercial television station to launch as a NextGen Virtual Broadband IP Channel in December 2023. Earlier this month, KVVU(TV) became the first Fox affiliate and first NextGen Virtual Channel to broadcast its entire programming schedule in HDR with Dolby Vision, again bringing the rich colors and vivid contrasts of HDR to viewers in Las Vegas.

“For many years, broadcasters have been promising to use NextGen TV to bring superior picture quality and immersive sound to viewers. Gray is proud to be among a handful of leading broadcasters who are now delivering on that promise. Our stations in Louisville and Las Vegas are just the beginning of Gray’s efforts to launch more of its NextGen TV stations with these innovative, consumer-pleasing features throughout the summer and into the fall,” said Pat LaPlatney, Gray’s president and co-CEO.

In addition to advanced picture and sound quality, Gray also is using NextGen to offer new interactive and streaming services for viewers. 

In Las Vegas and Kansas City, Gray’s stations are using NextGen TV and the RUN3 Platform as a portal to access Gray’s live 24/7 local news-focused national streaming service, Local News Live. With a simple click of the remote, viewers watching KVVU(TV) in Las Vegas or KCTV(TV) in Kansas City on a NextGen television set can access Local News Live. Gray’s stations in Las Vegas and Kansas City are the first to use NextGen as a portal to access a free, live streaming news service providing a new public service to viewers in Gray’s markets.

“With NextGen TV and the RUN3 Platform, Gray is able to bring Local News Live to the millions of viewers in Gray’s markets who have already purchased or will soon purchase a NextGen TV set,” said Sandy Breland, Gray’s COO.

“In the coming months Gray anticipates it will use NextGen TV and the RUN3 Platform to offer more innovative and interactive features for its viewers, including start-over, interactive gaming channels, and much more,” offered Rob Folliard, Gray’s senior vice president and currently the chairperson of NextGen TV consortium PearlTV. “With the strong penetration of NextGen TV capable television sets in the country, we expect consumers will increasingly recognize how NextGen TV will improve their experiences even more than our industry’s transition from analog to High Definition fifteen years ago.”

STOCKHOLM—NDI, the global video-over-IP connectivity standard, has announced the  release of NDI 6, a key update that is designed to significantly impact broadcasting and content creation. NDI 6  introduces native HDR support and expands WAN connectivity for hardware, addressing critical industry requirements and pushing the boundaries of visual quality and remote workflows, NDI reported. 

“The highly anticipated NDI 6 introduces 10+ bit HDR support to answer growing quality demands  coming from our users,” said Nick Mariette, director of product management, NDI. "The feedback from  our customers and beta testers played a pivotal role in developing NDI 6. Many of our partners want to  adopt NDI workflows more profoundly, and further improved image quality will enhance the usage of  NDI. Now, anyone seeking high-end quality can stream in HDR with the flexibility, efficiency, and  interoperability NDI has always offered." 

Equipped with native HDR and 10+ bit color support, NDI 6 is designed to be a powerful option for tier 1 Broadcast, meeting industry demands for professional-grade video streaming over IP and making broadcast-quality  streaming widely available. 

The update provides broadcasters and content creators with higher  contrast, which expands brightness headroom. Additionally, it offers wide color gamut and minimal  color banding, which ensures seamless transitions and gradients, and broad compatibility, with  support for PQ and HLG formats expanding streaming to most HDR and non-HDR devices, the company said. 

Another notable update is that WAN connectivity is now embedded into cameras through an NDI Bridge utility for hardware. This  plug-and-play solution promises a transformative impact on the flexibility of remote productions and  setups, offering a seamless experience for anyone sending and receiving video, regardless of the device,  platform, or location. The new feature allows devices to send encrypted NDI streams over a WAN,  facilitating secure, remote real-time collaboration between locations. NDI-enabled cameras with the  Bridge utility can join remote networks without depending on additional software or tools, the company said. 

Since Q4 of 2023, the core technology update has been under beta testing with industry-leading product  developers like Autodesk, Chyron, Kiloview, Lumens, Matrox, Panasonic and Vizrt as part of the NDI Beta program. Results have led to the successful integration of NDI 6 into both existing and forthcoming  products. 

"With NDI 6, NDI emerges as the undisputed standard for cloud-based live production, ushering in a new  era of possibility for Vizrt's suite of production solutions," said Ulrich Voigt, global head of product management, Vizrt. "With its advanced bit depth and expanded color range, NDI 6 elevates the visual quality of our products to unprecedented levels, enhancing every  aspect of the content creation process. The new Bridge utility feature also opens doors to seamless  connectivity, enabling our customers to effortlessly integrate NDI devices into their remote networks  and cloud-based workflows. This shift transforms NDI from a primarily local technology to a cornerstone  of global networked broadcasting."

NDI 6 will be showcased at the 2024 NAB Show where Comprimato, Chyron, Kiloview,  Magewell, Telycam and Vizrt will demonstrate the latest features of the core tech update.  

“With a longstanding commitment to the NDI standard, Chyron enthusiastically welcomes the  progression of NDI connectivity and its advanced iterations through the latest release of NDI 6,” explained Nikole McStanley, product portfolio director, Chyron. “Through  these innovations, such as NDI HDR HLG, Chyron PRIME, with live graphics, video walls, touchscreen  graphics, clips and branding, broadens support for clients seeking to merge top-quality production  visuals with flexible network architectures. NDI HDR offers substantial enhancement in image quality  and color depth, ultimately delivering viewers a more captivating and immersive visual experience just  in time for some of the most prominent global sports broadcasting events planned this summer.”

NDI 6 is now available for testing and integration by all product developers, with downloads accessible  at ndi.video/ndi6/. 

Additionally, the President of NDI, Daniel Nergård, will deliver an exclusive keynote presentation at the  JB&A Pre-NAB Technology Event. During his address, Nergård will delve into the technology’s advancements and provide insights into the company's future. 

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—Sinclair Broadcast Group has announced that it will carry Tennis Channel’s T2 as a free, streaming, virtual channel in all of its markets nationwide that have deployed the new NextGen Broadcast standard, aka ATSC 3.0. Currently, Sinclair is using the NextGen Broadcast standard in 43 markets.

Carriage of T2 as a broadcast-enabled virtual channel coincides with Sinclair’s recent offer to carry public broadcast stations as virtual channels in its markets where the public station is not part of the initial over-the-air NextGen Broadcast deployment. This effort is geared to ‘prime the pump’ for later broadcast carriage to all viewers, Sinclair reported. 

T2 is Tennis Channel’s second television network and includes matches from the men’s and women’s professional tours and team-cup competitions, as well as the French Open (Roland Garros), one of the sport’s four majors. Other programming includes original series, short-form features and documentaries exclusive to T2. The T2 virtual channel will be available via Sinclair NextGen Broadcast stations. 

Carriage of a broadcast-enabled virtual channel involves transmitting programming data within the NextGen Broadcast service allowing over-the-air viewers with a connected NextGen TV to see and select the channel in their programming guide while the channel is delivered over the Internet. 

The NextGen TV capabilities also mean that the T2 programming will use Advanced HDR by Technicolor. HDR presents the viewer with better contrast, higher brightness, and a wider range of colors, creating a more realistic and immersive visual experience.

“With this new NextGen Broadcast platform that Sinclair is leading the way in introducing, people all over the country will have more ways to watch live, top-tier professional sports around the clock, with the best players in the world, all year long,” explained Tennis Channel president, Ken Solomon. “This means hours and hours of daily, continuous play and original programming that only exists on T2.” Mike Kralec, Sinclair’s Chief Technology Officer, added, “We are excited to expand the reach of T2, improve the viewer experience with HDR, and extend our flexible cloud distribution strategies. Delivering high quality programming via connected smart TV provides an initial path for distribution that can precede that same programming eventually being received over-the-air.”

With ATSC 3.0 (aka “NextGen TV) now reaching approximately 75% of U.S. households, emphasis at the 2024 NAB Show will be on refinements and new applications for the advanced broadcast format—the most visible being HDR (high dynamic range).

“We’re expecting broadcasters to begin ‘taking the new car for a drive,’ with the expansion of high dynamic range programming to show viewers one of the key advantages of the new service—exceptional video that is matched with the Dolby audio system,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland.

“We’re calling this ‘the year of HDR’ because a lot of stations have received, or will receive, permission to scale services into High Dynamic Range,” added Dave Folsom, Pearl TV group’s engineering lead. “At least two encoder manufacturers can now do this scaling, and that will make the service better. In most locations it will be provided as a 1080p service.”

Mark Aitken, senior vice president of advanced technology at Sinclair Broadcast Group, also weighed on the addition of high dynamic range.

“HDR is very significant, and one of the promises of the ATSC 3.0 standard is better television for America’s living rooms,” said Aitken. “It was the focus of the ATSC at this year’s CES. CBS’s delivery of the February Super Bowl LVIII in HDR should spur others to add this enhancement to their ATSC 3.0 transmissions and I expect to see announcements from other networks,” said Aitken, noting that HDR is nothing new at Sinclair. “We’ve been broadcasting HDR 24/7 at all of our stations with ATSC 3.0. Some 40 Sinclair stations are on the air with Advanced HDR by Technicolor.”

Seeing is Believing
West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center will host most of the 3.0 exhibitors and perhaps the best first stop for attendees interested in 3.0 is the ATSC booth (W3056).

“We plan to showcase both the NextGen TV sets and also upgrade accessory receivers at the NAB Show to make sure broadcasters are aware of the variety of set-top devices coming for consumers,” said Noland. “Already, consumers have their choice of NextGen TV-certified and security-verified receiving devices from ADTH and Zinwell.”

“There are a lot of standalone devices now available to enable NextGen TV reception with legacy receivers,” added Pearl’s Folsom. “All modern TV sets have HDMI input capability, so when a conversion device is added the user can painlessly switch between ATSC 1.0 and 3.0. This should go a long way to greasing the skids to full adoption.”

Aitken says Sinclair will also have an exhibits-area presence at the show with ATSC, and both an “on-floor suite” not far from  the ATSC booth, and a Wynn suite, both demonstrating ATSC 3.0 datacasting. He also promised some surprise announcements at the show on recent major datacasting developments.

Additional Space for 3.0
Aitken says he hopes there is news from the NAB Show on a date for sunsetting 1.0, giving broadcasters more bandwidth to roll out the full inventory of audio, video and data enhancements that are part of 3.0.

“I believe there’s good progress being made in the Future of Television Initiative [dealing with ATSC 1.0 switch-off and other 3.0 transition issues] within the industry, with the NAB playing a key role and the FCC and other regulatory bodies coming to an understanding of the nature of what has to happen in order to jettison the first stage of this rocket, ignite the second stage, and be securely in orbit,” Aitken added.

Anne Schelle, Pearl TV’s managing director, spotlighted another big NextGen TV development — “Run3 TV—that will be featured at the NAB Show.

“Run 3 is a powerful middleware solution that acts as an abstraction layer, simplifying the complex process of developing and deploying NextGen TV applications across varying operating systems and devices,” said Schelle, adding that it will allow broadcasters to reach wider audiences with more efficiency and less technical overhead.

“At the 2024 NAB show, developers such as Velope, Playanywhere, Gameloop, and Roxi will showcase the innovative applications and capabilities enabled by Run3TV, highlighting the platform’s role in driving the future of interactive TV,” Schelle added.

New NextGen TV Hardware
Along with the new and updated 3.0 applications, manufacturers have been busy developing new products to show on the exhibit floor.

Heading the lineup of new transmitters for ATSC 3.0 is the new E-Compact EC600HP-BB3 series from Hitachi-Comark, optimized for LPTV/MPTV replacements and ATSC 3.0 SFN deployments, according to Joe Turbolski, Hitachi-Comark’s vice president of sales and marketing. 

GatesAir will launch its Maxiva VLXTE-OP, “which essentially rounds out the top end of the Maxiva family for ATSC 3.0 transmission,” said Steve Rossiter, GatesAir TV systems applications engineer.

Although details weren’t fully available at press time, Rohde & Schwarz is also promising a new transmitter launch. “Rhode & Schwarz has developed a new and next-generation ATSC 3.0-native transmitter that embraces the liquid-cooled design and legacy while enabling operators to maximize their efficiency at minimized operational cost,” said Manfred Reitmeier, R&S’s vice president of broadcast and amplifier systems.“

Dielectric President Keith Pelletier says the company will show their latest antenna offerings, including the Powerlite TFU-WB-LP series. “Dielectric has spent the last several years building out its portfolio of ATSC 3.0 solutions,” he said. “We are 95% there in terms of filling out the entire product line, which will essentially allow us to serve any ATSC 3.0 requirements. Dielectric expects to fill in some final gaps with new models at NAB 2024.”

Attendees will also want to check out Harmonic’s XOS media processor and cloud-based VOS 360 Media SaaS offerings. “These feature a unique cloud-native common software foundation and next-gen media processing technology,” said Jing Zhou, Harmonic’s director of broadcast solutions. “They enable broadcasters to deliver ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 services simultaneously and efficiently, with feature enhancements including AI-powered video compression and quality optimization, simplified SDR/HDR conversions, and more.”

Also, look for Sencore’s new AG 2700 for monitoring of both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 OTA signals. It provides ASI and IP outputs signals, and includes SNMP functionality.

These new product offerings only represent a small sampling of NextGen TV technologies that will be on display at the 2024 NAB Show. 

NextGen TV Educational Opportunities
In addition to tire-kicking and networking opportunities at exhibitor’s booths, you’ll also want to take advantage of the large number of presentations being offered on ATSC 3.0 television. These are part of the BEIT (Broadcast Engineering and IT) sessions featured Saturday through Tuesday at the 2024 NAB Show.

Presentations will cover advanced emergency alerting, ATSC 3.0 television translators, use of ATSC 3.0 transmissions for positioning systems, converging ATSC 3.0 and 5G technologies, offloading of video streaming content via NextGen TV and more.

Of particular interest to broadcasters is the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society’s Saturday afternoon presentation, “ATSC 3.0 Business Case and Monetization,” focusing on creating additional revenue streams for stations. According to the session organizers, such topics as the delivery of audio (radio) services via ATSC 3.0, targeted advertising, use of geo-localized datacasting, and delivery of ATSC 3.0 enhancements through the use of virtual (Internet-delivered) channels will all be included.

Paul Shulins, IEEE BTS president and president of the Shulins Solutions consulting firm, terms this session a “must-attend” event. 

“Broadcasters today have many different options to generate revenue besides the traditional advertising dollars,” said Shulins. “Thanks to ATSC 3.0 this session will showcase several new creative concepts for monetizing your data capacity.”

Another session explores a relatively new ATSC 3.0 technology, “core networks,” which will provide delivery of television services and data across multiple TV transmission facilities in multiple markets.

“The ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Core Networks: Serving diverse use-cases across a heterogeneous broadcast and supplier ecosystem,” Tuesday afternoon panel discussion will be moderated by Spectra Rep COO y the chief operating officer at Spectra Rep, John McCoskey.

“Broadcast core networks connect broadcasters, end-user service providers, and virtualized network infrastructure providers and enable data-centric businesses using ATSC 3.0,” McCoskey. “Don’t miss this session if you are interested in learning about the role, value, and importance of broadcast core networks as a critical part of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast ecosystem.”

For a complete listing of BEIT ATSC 3.0-related sessions and times, visit https://nabshow.com/2024/learn/conferences/broadcast-engineering

It’s been a while since the pixel count race was a big issue for broadcast production. As we head into the 2024 trade show season, then, thinking centers on what upcoming technology might make possible—on techniques, rather than specifications.

Take Blackmagic Design for example; the company’s foray into cloud contribution is talismanic of the changes which turned half of West Hall into a cloud computing village at last year’s show and demonstrated how the cloud and IP are impacting the camera’s role in new digital workflows.

“We introduced the [Blackmagic Camera] iPhone app a little while ago,” said Bob Caniglia, director of sales for the company in North America. “You can shoot with that phone, work with the cloud service, share proxies. The camera to Blackmagic cloud to Resolve workflow started with the camera app. The Ursa Broadcast G2 [camera] is now in beta for that software too. That's a good direction on where we're going.”

Bonded cellphone links are an established alternative to microwave or satellite links, although similar things with single 5G connections are more nascent. Still, regardless of the connection type, Caniglia points out that the benefits of cloud systems help with both cost and expediency. “People can directly link to a broadcaster's box. If someone's out in the field and they shot something, they can send it and get it on air faster than searching YouTube.”

Meanwhile, traditional broadcast configurations have become ever more accessible. “We have a lot in the education, house-of-worship and live event spaces,” Caniglia says. “One reason we've done so well is the cost-performance ratio and the nimbleness of the gear. It's not a rackful for a switcher. If you need a spare, buy a second one and that's the same price as an output card on some other thing. Broadcasters buy our stuff for smaller rooms or backups because they can.”

One caveat of skyrocketing capability is sheer operability, with feature sets bigger than any single human could operate. “There are tools that you can use to overcome a lot of that,” Caniglia reflects. “Even if you were doing it software-only, you could do switching on one, audio on another, moving graphics around on another and camera control on a fourth. With macros and other things you can do a lot more. We have an open API and people have been able to write all kinds of macro stuff.”

The Rise of PTZ
That sort of automation and remote control understandably boomed during the pandemic. Jim Jensen, Panasonic’s senior category owner for PTZ & remote systems, reports that, in terms of sales “we don't see record numbers like we did during Covid, but we do see steady growth. We sell a number of different features and price categories and we're finding demand for a good quality, flexible PTZ camera with flexible workflow, often replacing low end studio cameras.”

Here, flexibility often means vast connectivity. “We're seeing demand for SRT,” Jensen continues. “A couple of years ago there wasn't much. Some users use NDI [and] ST 2110 has become a big topic for some customers, with them using a higher-end PTZ in the studio, so we have an ST 2110 option in the AW-UE160. It’s one of the first in the industry to offer that because we listened to our customers.”

Demand for glossy images has pushed PTZ cameras to ever greater heights, but Jensen reflects that the push for pixels is about flexibility as much as quality. “On our one-inch sensors that are 4K, we're able to create three regions of interest which are 16:9 full HD images within that 4K,” he said. “Because it's a larger imager, it gives them the flexibility to output one of those plus the full raster 4K, so that particular PTZ now has two images coming out of it.”

Panasonic’s involvement in everything from acquisition to display is a boon, Jensen concludes. “[Customers] are looking for a manufacturer that can do glass to glass, capturing and moving that signal through, switching it, and being able to display that particular event or production in very different ways. We're finding more customers are asking about what we’re doing from a solution standpoint, and we've been able to provide something.”

HDR: An Antidote to the Pixel Race?
If there’s an overriding theme for imaging technology at the 2024 NAB Show though, it’s HDR, which is sufficiently so well established that clients often expect it with little tolerance for increased complexity. Klaus Weber, director of product marketing at Grass Valley, recalls when he supported the first ever live HDR production at an athletic championship in Europe in August 2014. “Since then I've been on maybe 50 HDR productions here and in the U.S.,” he said.

HDR, Weber muses, might be an antidote to the pixel count race.

“People have UHD sets at home in a size where UHD potentially makes sense—55- 65- or 75-inch displays,” he said. “But in typical viewing conditions, you hardly reach the point where you can see HD with the human eye. I have a 65-inch OLED at home and I was watching on-demand from the public broadcaster here in Germany. 

"For whatever reason the resolution was set to SD rather than to HD, but the up-conversion was so well done it took me a while to realize. I think at home, with typical screen sizes, more resolution is not required—but HDR makes a big difference, even on small screens.”

The perhaps-instinctive approach of shading in HDR, then downconverting for SDR is something Weber warns against. “The downconverter clips a large amount of the highlights which is not what you want,” he said. “If you shade in SDR and use all the highlights you can squeeze into the SDR signal, you will never clip anything on the HDR signal. So, as long as the SDR looks okay, HDR always looks better.”

Making that workflow practical demands innovation. “NBC has a workflow document which describes basically the same thing that we proposed around 2014,” Weber says, “but the look processing in the camera head is really new. It will be at NAB and we have developed that by request for certain parties including OBS for the Olympics.”

Even as common approaches emerge, complexities remain, says Robert Willox, director of production marketing for live solutions at Sony. “Everything that's coming into the truck you have to keep track of—even bumper tapes,” he said. "‘What LUT did you use?’ ‘Does it matter or is it OK that it looks different?’ You need to know the identity of every signal in the truck to avoid mixing from HDR to SDR.”

SDR broadcast is the moneymaker, according to Willox. “There's increasing outlets for 4K HDR but right now the sacrosanct image is the SDR. We've developed a Sony workflow where we shoot in HDR with one crew and one set of vision engineers but the SDR workflow takes care of the rest. I'm oversimplifying, but we've created a number of additions into CCUs and processing equipment… the crew can create the HDR broadcast with a perfect SDR broadcast side by side.”

“Some of the broadcasters come to us with [their shading approach] and say ‘this is what we need as a LUT in your cameras; we don't want to be using multiple layers of LUT boxes, we want something we can start with at the camera output.’” Willox adds. “They want a standard LUT in the CCU. In live entertainment, everyone wants to have their own look but from a broadcast standpoint I think there's going to be a lot of standardized LUTs… we're constantly developing new tools for this and at this NAB we’re going to introduce some new software for the HDR-C4000, our simulcast box.”

That Cinematic Look
Super-35mm cameras are discussed less than a few years ago, though perhaps because it is unremarkable rather than uncommon. Chase Hagen, ARRI’s technical sales representative and multicam expert, points out that the sensor is not the only crucial part of the chain.

“Our focus is on live productions that benefit from a sophisticated cinematic look,” Hagen said.

To that end, ARRI’s cameras include features more often seen in a CCU: “Our ALEXA 35 cameras deliver SDR and HDR simultaneously [and] the camera has a stock display reference transform that delivers images that are as similar as possible given the differences between the two formats,” he added. “With a recent firmware update, we now allow users to install their own display transforms for even more control.”

It’s tempting to assume lenses have infinite dynamic range, but Art Adams, product specialist for cinema lenses for ARRI, demurs. “Chromatic aberration and veiling glare can be extremely distracting in HDR,” he said. “It’s important to pair [the camera] with lenses that can deliver color and contrast information right up to the clipping point without compromising the rest of the image. ARRI Signature lenses were designed with that in mind… It’s a waste to make such a high-quality sensor if there’s no way to take advantage of it.”

All that picture information is useful for an industry which increasingly considers HDR the norm. Combined HDR-SDR workflows are, perhaps, the feature of the moment. For the future, long-distance IP networking, remote operation and 5G seem ascendant—but what’s clearest is that workflow innovations are increasingly limited mainly by the imagination of engineers. 

Register for the 2024 NAB Show, April 14-17 in Las Vegas at https://nabshow.com/2024/

Faced with intense pressure to reduce losses, streaming companies have pivoted in the last two years to an obsessive focus on cost cutting, loss reduction and profitability. 

At the moment, only Netflix is profitable. But these financial imperatives have helped several major streaming offerings—notably Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, NBCU’s Peacock and Disney’s direct-to-consumer offerings—reduce losses and boost their stock prices.

Unfortunately, the war on red ink has also come with some costs, most notably price hikes, increased churn, and in some cases poorer quality video. Netflix, Amazon and Max, for example, have all made it significantly more expensive for consumers to access better quality 4K high dynamic range (HDR) video, a move that has pushed millions of subscribers into tiers with second-rate video quality. 

In this interview with TV Tech, Dr. Abdul Rehman, the chief product officer at an IMAX, explains that streamers don’t have to make “lose/lose” choices between cutting costs and maintaining high video quality because 4K HDR can be delivered at scale in a cost-effective manner. This focus on better quality video, can in turn, also drive subscriber growth and help stem the hefty marketing and other costs created by millions of subscribers churning in and out of their subscriptions each year. 

All this is part of a wider effort by IMAX to bring the high-quality images it has long been associated with in the theatrical film industry into the home. In 2023, as part of that strategy, IMAX acquired streaming technology provider, SIMMWAVE, where Rehman was the founder and CEO/CTO. Since then, IMAX has been investing heavily in technologies to improve streaming video and at IBC 2023 launched its StreamSmart solution.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

TVT: In a general way, what are some of the key things that you’ve been focusing on at IMAX to improve video quality and how does HDR fit into that?

REHMAN In terms of consumer technology, an important goal is to help storytellers tell stories in the best possible way. In other words, help preserve creative intent of the content delivered as audio and video and other aspects of video streams in the home.

For that, we have developed technology that can really measure human experience very accurately at scale in the way humans perceive content. We can assess that in terms of how the content is delivered and served on a specific device. We can give it a number for how close it is to the creative intent from zero to 100. The higher the number, higher the closer the content is the creative intent.

We use that measurement technology to optimize video experiences and to make sure the customer is happy with the stream they're delivering.

Then we help them by providing products and solutions to preserve quality and to shave off everything that's not needed.

Because it's driven by deep science and an understanding of how the human visual system operates, we are able to help them reduce costs, in the tens of millions of dollars generally speaking, while not impacting quality.

The other benefit related to delivering premium experience in the home. You can think of it as providing an IMAX quality experience using a similar number of bits to the typical bitrate budgets. 

TVT: In terms of that visual experience, how do you see the adoption of HDR?

REHMAN: In terms of the libraries that are out there, especially in cloud-based content, the percentage of content that's available in high dynamic range [HDR] is fairly limited.

Generally speaking, it is less than 10% and can be significantly less than that, in terms of the percentage of content available in high dynamic range or HDR.

But the consumption I believe is much higher. This limited set of HDR assets are consumed much more broadly than the rest of the library.

Because you can deliver more details, highlight details and shadow details, and there's the wider color spectrum that is organic and represents skin tones correctly, HDR gives creatives the ability to tell the story that they want to tell in a much more powerful way. But the way it is implemented from content creation all the way to playback is very important.

When we look at human perception, dynamic range is an important element of that. We believe if you cannot measure something, you cannot optimize that experience. If you can’t measure it, you're just shooting in the dark. The technology that you use may work 80% of the time or 60% of the time or 90% of the time, based on your experience or subjective evaluation. But until you can measure it at your scale, you cannot really make decisions that will allow that content to be delivered and experienced as expected at scale.

We started working on measuring how humans experience content about 16 years or so ago. We studied the impact of processing compression. We studied the impact of devices and how they do tone mapping as a common operation to fit the signal within the device capabilities. Not all the content is created for 1000 nits, not all devices can do 1000 nits of brightness. The device will [adapt] using standards like Dolby Vision, HDR 10 Plus, HDR 10 and others.

If you do this operation with some solutions, you may reduce or remove some details from the content. One method may remove details from highlights and then the brighter parts don't look so good because they are flashed out. Or it may remove details from the darker areas. 

The question is, how does that impact the storytelling and human perception? That's the goal of our vision science and what we measure. We are able to do that very accurately. We introduced that capability in our tools in 2017.

Since then, it has been used by our customers not only to measure effectively what they’re delivering in terms of HDR. It also to measure performance of different encoders and various decisions that they have to make. It also allows them to dynamically optimize the bitrate requirement for HDR content on a segment-by-segment or scene by scene basis.

Obvously, you cannot do that unless you can really measure how humans experience the content. Our metric and vision science can replicate the human objective evaluation very accurately.

If you are not able to measure extremely accurately, then you may think that you're keeping the quality at the same level when you aren’t. If you have an automated approach that can’t really perceive the issues with the content that seems fine at 14 Mbps, then you may tell the automated approach to keep going down and you may end up at eight or six Mbps, where you end up a lot of issues like color banding and so on so forth.

We have a product, StreamSmart, that can accurately measure content in an automated way. It provides users with a way to make decisions on the basis of human perception and the principles we’ve been talking about that can improve quality and save money. 

TVT: What about HDR in live streams and live production? How do you see the adoption of that in sports and other live streams?

REHMAN: The trend is obviously towards more and more adoption. But the growth of HDR content on the live side is significantly slower than the file-based side. That’s due to the challenges that come from live production and putting a linear channel together.

For example, if I specifically talk about a live production, rather than a whole linear channel, doing a specific game is easier relatively speaking, than doing multiple events at the same time.

There are a number of challenges for doing a specific game. If you have a specific camera setup, you need all those cameras to do HDR. HDR obviously requires higher bandwidth. So you need to have links from that camera to the truck that are very high bandwidth. Then you need to deliver that HDR feed every step of the way and spend more bits.

Bandwidth is certainly a challenge when it comes to content production because the physical wires that you need to put in place from cameras all the way to the truck or IP infrastructure that needs to support the 10s of gigabits per second per feed that are coming in from camera so you can mix them together and produce the live sports.

But that’s not that big of a challenge. 

Another challenge occurs when you are working with a much broader color gamut and much wider dynamic range from scene to scene. Then you have to make sure that they match when you are mixing them together. If the cameras are very different, if they're capturing a very different range of brightness, then consumers are not going to like that.

So you need uniformity. Consistency is critical. You don't want to go from camera to camera, where the color changing from one type of color gamut to another type of color range. That is challenging, but that is still easy to solve.

Adding ads into the mix creates further challenges. Now these ads may or may not be available in HDR. So you need to create some uniformity between the ads and the live stream.

That's when you use automated approaches to match the look and feel. But because many of these approaches are limited in terms of human perception perspective, you end up creating a different look and feel as you go from the live stream to the ads and so on so forth. So that's a challenge.

Then, if you have a linear channel and you go from watching football and to hockey, you have issues with how the colors would match or not match and how the camera setup was put in place and the rest of it. So those are the challenges when it comes to live and linear content. 

TVT: How does your StreamSmart solution address those challenges?

REHMAN: The goal is to help not only assess the look and feel of the content—whether it matches or not and whether we are covering the right brightness range and stuff like that. The goal is also to compress that much better.

There's a debate out there about whether it's better to do UHD SDR standard dynamic range or HD, high definition HDR.

With HD HDR, you have less detail in terms of resolution more dynamic range in terms of brightness and color and stuff. With UHD SDR you have more resolution but less dynamic range.

Based on our technology you can do both. You can benefit and deliver the highest quality when you have all the pixels UHD 4k and high dynamic range within the same bandwidth. You can offer the full experience. Instead of choosing from a lose-lose situation, where you are either losing dynamic range or losing resolution, you can have both with our solution. 

TVT: There are still a variety of HDR formats. Where do you see the different ones being adopted and their development?

REHMAN: I think we will see these evolve over time as technology grows every step of the way.

At this point, if you look at the file-based side, the format that's most commonly used is Dolby Vision. That's the preferred approach for a number of reasons.

On the live side. It's HLG [Hybrid Log-Gamma] or HDR 10. HLG has a certain simplicity in the way it handles meta data and stuff like that. 

That goes back to my file and live based comparison and the complexities that are involved in that.  Dolby Vision and HDR 10+ allow you to change the look and feel of the content from a color and brightness perspective from scene to scene. That additional complexity is easier to handle on the file based side than on the live side. ,

If there is a solution on the live side that will deliver the benefits of scene-by-scene adaptation and do it in a simple way from an implementation perspective, you might see a different approach in terms of the live side of things.

But I think on the live side, things are still in the air. How do you take the next leap in terms of adjusting color and dynamic range on a scene-by-scene basis? On the file-based side, it's much easier to do.

So there are a number of challenges that exist when it comes to using HDR formats. And as these formats evolve and solve little problems, you will see that the composition, what formats are out there and which are preferred is going to change over time. Especially in the live side of things.

TVT: In terms of new high-profile content, big dramas, etc. is HDR now widely adopted? Or is there still some hesitancy to shoot with HDR?

REHMAN: It's a question more than anything else I think of cost. So if that premium quality is part of the storytelling, and creatives have the budget and time to spend on that, then I do see that people are creating content in HDR and that's only going to increase.

I think HDR is going to become much more prevalent every step of the way. New devices and experiences are coming out to like the Apple Vision Pro.. So you will see that it will become more and more commonplace for people to consume high dynamic range content, which will feed this loop of creating more content. It will just take some time because a lot of content is not even available in UHD.

…[That's] on the streaming side. If we are just purely talking a master for premium content, that is going to be 4K HDR. That is table stakes right now. You have to have HDR today. If you’re not doing HDR, then I don't know what you are doing.

On the theatrical side, certain films are taking it even further. Oppenheimer was done using IMAX film cameras. That is pushing it farther in terms of resolution significantly and aspect ratio. There's a lot of work in the look and feel that IMAX actually been doing that is pushing it even further. But 4K and HDR are table stakes at this point. 

TVT: How would you describe the difference between how IMAX’s StreamSmart is helping encoding and workflow, and what's the difference between that and say, per title encoding or content aware encoding using some of the other methods that are out there such as VMAF? How is the IMAX vision science differentiated from those?

REHMAN: So I'll cover the encoding in the first part and then talk about other quality metrics separately in the second part.

For the content we're encoding, the principle is that if a specific encoder finds a specific piece of content easier to encode, and less trying, then the encoder will spend less bits on that.

That's generally the principle. In other words, you are saying let’s measure the complexity of content and if the content is less complex to encode, then we'll spend fewer bits. And if it's more complex, then lets spend more bits. You can obviously apply that to selecting resolution as well. At a specific bitrate what is the right resolution to pick?

In terms of IMAX, what we are talking about here is a quality-driven metric allocation. It is additive to Content Aware encoding. Yes, if the content is less complex, then, let's spend fewer bits. But how much do we go down from more complex content? Is it eight Mbps?  Is it six or four or three?

That's where we come in. I'll give you an example. The content encoding approach available in FFmpeg based encoders is called CRF, Constant Rate Factor. You can set the CRF value at 25, at 28, at 30, at 16. Where you set it at the end of the day, that's based on people's experience and stuff like that. Now, let's say based on your experience and whatever measurement you have done, you want to set it for high quality, with the lower the number meaning the higher the quality.

So let's say you set it to a CRF 18. But how do you know that is right for that specific scene? How do you know that 19 or 20, or 25 will not deliver the same quality levels?

That is where we come in. We can say for this scene, you don't need 15. We can say that for this scene, CRF 22 will give you the same quality at three megabits per second as CRF 15 or 18 would.

So it's a quality driven approach sitting on top of content awareness encoding. That is what we are using.

Now when it comes to VMAF [Video Multi-method Assessment Fusion], they [Netflix] in a recent blog talked about the use of VMAF for optimizing HDR content. And they talked about extending the ability of VMAF [from SDR] to measure HDR content quality and enabling VMAF to measure HDR content quality.

At this point, it's not publicly available. The only organization that knows what [VMAF] can or cannot do it is Netflix. At this point they are the only ones who know this because it's internal and that's what they use for themselves. So, I don't know if it's good or it's not good enough. They obviously think that it's not good enough because it's been tweaked for internal use for HDR. But they have not made it publicly available.

I was surprised to see that some of the graphs they put in their blog, don't even have numbers on them. They don't even feel comfortable enough to say that the score is 85 or score is 90. So that's sort of the readiness level [for VMAF] at this point.

[In contrast], we started working on this in 2008, 2009 in our research lab and our HDR work is very very highly cited.

First of all, VMAF doesn't support HDR 10. So it's not an applicable comparison. The second thing is that VMAF is built as a combination of metrics. So they collected a bunch of metrics which is fine. If somebody wants to use it, you collect four or five, six different metrics from different papers and then fuse them together.

That's what the F word stands for in VMAF. It's for fusion. You train some simple machine learning model and hope that one of the metrics is going to do the right job at the end of the day. But what if none of them do their job?

Keep in mind that these metrics are fundamentally SDR metrics, not HDR. When VMAF comes out with HDR capabilities, I would need to see if they have modified some of those metrics to make them HDR capable or if it is a totally brand-new approach. That remains to be seen.

My personal opinion is that when I go to see Netflix content, I see banding. I see a number of other issues.

So the question is: where's that coming from? Is it from the use of this metric to reduce the bitrate or not? Can the estimate [based on VMAF] really be trusted to make sure and absolutely guarantee that the quality is not being compromised? If they think that VMAF can do that, then 100% They should use it. If they think it can't, then we're here to help them

TVT: What has IMAX’s acquisition of SSIMWAVE meant for the development of the solutions you are talking about?

REHMAN: It’s meant a few things. One is resources. Obviously, as a young company starting out we had a specific level of resources available. With IMAX we have more resources available. IMAX is strategically keen on investing and bringing IMAX offering outside of theaters as well. They want to invest and deliver on expanding on the business opportunities outside of that theatrical environment.

Another is validation and their belief in the technology and the people. Having the investment and IMAX brand, means something to consumers. Those things have clearly helped us with additional resources and reach.

TVT: The streaming industry is at a pivotal point where they are under enormous pressure to reduce their loses, which means that in addition to controlling costs, they have to attract subscribers and reduce the churn—the number of subscribers who are dropping their subscriptions. How do you see yourself fitting into that pressure to reduce costs and churn?

REHMAN: At the end of the day, streaming companies and media companies are generally telling investors that profitability is the key objective. We can help them reach that goal faster by helping them keep their consumers with better quality content and reduce the cost of streaming content so they can hit profitability faster.

TVT: I know you can’t be too specific about your roadmap going forward, but what are the major things you are focusing on to further improve your offering?

REHMAN When it comes to StreamSmart and similar technologies, we continue to invest in multiple facets to make sure the creative intent is preserved.

On the measurement side, right now one of the challenges is, for example, that a lot of content that has either digital or film look that is not preserved. It's kind of butchered by the time it gets to the home.

Our goal is to help preserve and measure how well that creative intent is preserved. So, we will be launching in the near future, a metric to see how well it is preserved. That is something a number of people in the industry are looking at. They can use a metric like that because the look, a specific kind of film look, is an important part of storytelling for them.

That's just one example on the perceptual measurement side of how we are working to make sure we can measure the preservation of creative intent, better and better every step of the way.

On the StreamSmart side, we will continue pushing the envelope in what users can be saving in deployments at scale.

On the content side with the same spirit of preserving creative intent, we are bringing in contextual elements [to focus] on what scenes are more important to storytelling. How can we incorporate AI technologies into some of that?

Some of that we are working on is still in its early days but we’re really excited at what we’ve been able to achieve and bring to StreamSmart.

We are also working hard on the live linear side as well. In the industry, the file-based side is ahead compared to the live, linear side. So, on the linear side, we’re working to deploy it much more broadly and to create a sort of a cookie-cutter solution that can be deployed across different types of approaches to live channels.

CBS Sports has released the technical details behind its 22nd broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday Feb. 11, introducing several new production elements—including new camera angles and configurations along with cutting-edge graphic enhancements—to deliver what the network calls “an incomparable multiplatform viewer experience.”

The game will mark the first time that CBS Sports will present the Super Bowl in 1080p High Dynamic Range (HDR) and 4K HDR. While Fox and NBC were the first networks to offer 4K and HDR feeds in 2020 and 2023 of the Super Bowl, those feeds were upscaled from 1080p HDR. The last time CBS broadcast the big game was during the pandemic in 2021 which presented its own unique set of challenges. 

CBS will deploy 165 cameras across the network’s entire  presentation of the game on the CBS Television Network, Paramount+ and on mobile with NFL+, along with the Nick-ified telecast exclusively on Nickelodeon, as well as pregame, halftime and postgame coverage on THE NFL TODAY originating live from the Las Vegas Strip and Allegiant Stadium.

In all, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports HQ—Paramount's free, 24/7 streaming sports news network—will provide more than 115 combined hours of Super Bowl LVIII coverage throughout the week prior to the game, with shows primarily originating from CBS’ central broadcast location at Bellagio, beginning Monday, Feb. 5 at 6:00 AM, ET. CBS Sports Network will have extensive coverage with more than 75 hours of programming from Las Vegas throughout Super Bowl week, including studio programming and radio show simulcasts. The CBS broadcast will be available to stream via Paramount+.

For the kids, Nickeodeon will provide "slime" based coverage starting at 6:30 p.m. (ET). with "Super Bowl LVIII Live from Bikini Bottom," featuring enhanced graphics and advanced augmented reality, "bringing the historic Slime-filled telecast to SpongeBob SquarePants’ undersea home," the network said. This this marks the first time in NFL history that the Super Bowl will be broadcast in two different formats, according to CBS Sports.

Among the technical highlights this year is an increased emphasis on 4K zooms, with 48 cameras with super slow-motion capability—Half of which are 24 4K zoom extraction cameras—a record number for a Super Bowl, according to CBS. Those cameras will showcase a range of angles inside Allegiant Stadium, including from the ceiling, along the goal lines and embedded inside the endzone pylons. 

New this year are so-called small “Doink Cameras,” inserted into upright cutouts, with six 4K cameras capturing “unprecedented” angles of field goals and extra points, the network said. Cameras will have high resolution zoom capability and also be made available for super slow-motion replays.

With Las Vegas hosting the Super Bowl for the first time, CBS Sports will take advantage of its unique skyline, which now includes the world famous Sphere. Three sky cams, two fly cams (including a “trolley cam”) and three drones will be utilized between the stadium and areas of the Strip, including the Sphere. Twenty-four live robotic cameras also will be mounted inside the stadium and as well as throughout the city to showcase high altitude vantage points of Las Vegas.

CBS Sports will also deploy 23 augmented reality cameras—11 on the CBS broadcast, eight on Nickelodeon and four at the set on the Strip. A collection of AR graphic enhancements will be integrated into coverage, including graphics over the Bellagio fountains utilizing a drone and fly cam, as well as virtual AR studio showcasing Las Vegas Boulevard.

For VR fans, specialty graphics implemented during Super Bowl coverage will transport players to Las Vegas Boulevard, while a VR experience will transport viewers to the set on the Strip.

The network will also use a real-time 3D Animation Graphics Packager based on Unreal Engine—an immersive real-time 3D animation graphic tool—for its studio and game coverage. 

Other enhancements include: 

• Shallow Depth-of-Field Cameras – 5 shallow depth-of-field cameras will showcase players up close on the field with a cinematic feel.
• “Red Cat” POV Cameras – A creative POV tool utilizing aftereffects and accelerated live post-processing by stabilizing, focusing and time re-mapping to present replays in a dynamic way.
• Techno Movie Bird Crane – A 53-foot movie bird crane traditionally used for major motion pictures will be located on the upper concourse, offering dramatic sweeping views of the stadium.
• Falcon 360 Camera – An immersive camera showcasing vivid panoramic views of the venue.
• Wireless RF Cameras – 12 wireless remote frequency cameras, including two “line to gain” vantage points.

For most of the history of television, pictures have been created to satisfy a standard. The technology has not always been reliably capable of actually achieving those standards, as was obvious in retailers’ showrooms where sports fields glowed a dozen slightly different shades of green. Now, especially with the second generation of RGB OLED technology, accurate pictures have never been more accessible.

What’s new is a situation where pictures are increasingly shot to more than one standard. The demand for HDR often requires shooting for both that and SDR, while more exacting pictures demand more exacting monitoring. As HDR in itself becomes unremarkable then, new challenges have emerged to face people responsible for showing both the director and the viewing public an appropriate image.

What You See Isn’t What You Get
Owen McPolin, ISC, is a cinematographer whose experience includes features and serial drama such as “Outlander,” “Foundation,” “Shadow and Bone” and “Vikings,” among many others. Thinking back to early experiences of HDR, McPolin describes a process of discovery, beginning with tantalizing promises of better consumer displays.

“I was told that anything I would create on set would be exactly what people would get when they watched their HDR-enabled TV and I thought that was fantastic,” McPolin recalls, but accepts “that lies somewhere between fiction and truth. You know that some people have HDR TVs which have Dolby Vision, or they might have SDR TVs. You end up making decisions that might be described as compromises, sometimes.”

One of McPolin’s earliest experiences with HDR, on the second season of “Foundation,” made clear that interpretation of an SDR monitor on set needs to be tempered with consideration of the likely results in HDR, especially in a more controlled (read: darker) viewing environment. 

“For example, we were in Lanzarote,” he said. “The landscape is very contrasty, with a very high volume of light. It’s volcanic so everything’s basalt and the landscape is dark, and you have characters walking around that landscape, then from the horizon up it’s really high levels of light.” 

At first, the situation seemed tailor-made for HDR. “You think, as long as I pitch it in the middle my exposure will hold the top and the bottom. Then, in the grading suite I worked with a guy called Tony Dustin at Company 3 Toronto. 

“He’s simply one of the best colorists out there, and he said ‘I have a little problem... you shot this sequence of this character walking through this landscape,” McPolin added. “The sky is holding, there’s details in the blacks, but in HDR people are going to be blown out of their seats by how bright the sky is.’ What you’re seeing on an SDR monitor on location is nowhere near what you’re going to get when you sit down with an HDR image.”

Some careful work by Dustin avoided trouble in that instance, but McPolin cites the situation as a cautionary tale.

“I’m being overly critical and oversensitive about it, but I was really surprised,” he said. “I was sitting in a darkened interior in Screen Scene in Dublin and I needed sunglasses. 

“When you get down to the basics, people like me have to turn to the director who’s asking ‘is what I’m seeing here going to come out on the screen?’ You have to say ‘not really, it’s going to be different. Now Tony has developed a cunning way of working in HDR, to render the desired result, but it takes both experience and time to achieve it.”

Out of the Dark
Long-term solutions will arise from both technology and the understanding of that technology. Bill Feightner is CTO at Colorfront, a company specialising in exactly the kind of picture processing which is crucial to both SDR and HDR workflows in drama and broadcast. 

(Read: HDR: Simply Better Pixels)

Feightner is the recipient of several awards, including a technical achievement award from AMPAS and the SMPTE Technicolor/Herbert T. Kalmus Medal; he co-founded Deluxe’s EFILM lab and served as CTO for more than two decades.

Feightner refers to the audience complaint that certain productions have looked “too dark,” something he puts down not so much to camerawork or grading, but the environment of the grade. 

“Often it was graded in a very, very dark room,” he points out, “and the artistic intent was to have some things barely perceivable. If you’re going out to anything but a controlled environment, say in a cinema or something, then you’re going to have problems. Your eyes will adjust to the ambient conditions they’re in. What was perceivable in a very dark room is not going to survive.”

The comparison of HDR and SDR displays can be counter-intuitive in other ways, as Feightner notes. 

“Another gotcha is that a lot of home TVs, when you’re watching normal SDR content, show it a lot brighter than the 100-nit brightness that is the best practice standard. Most home TVs will automatically have a peak brightness, in SDR, of 200 to 300 nits. That’s three times the light—but when the same TVs switch to HDR they’re quite well calibrated. It is often the case that mid greys will actually look darker in HDR, if you haven’t compensated [for] the boosted light levels of SDR.”

Colorfront’s proprietary solution, Feightner says, is straightforward in concept.

“The HDR default is adjusted up so it will look good in a dim surround–not a pitch black viewing environment which people often don’t have,” he said. “It’s one of those things that the whole industry needs to address; adjusting for the ambient surround. Ideally that would be something that would happen in the TV, but there’s no real standard way of doing that. Some TVs have made attempts at it [but] our standards really need to be revised. There’s a lot that has to be thought about.”

Broadcasters and drama producers have closely-related concerns, and Feightner’s approach exists not only in software for post production, but also hardware, in the AJA FSHDR device for trucks and studios. 

“We did a test for the Rose Parade in L.A. a couple years ago, handling the whole thing as HDR, and derived the SDR from that,” Feightner said. “The video shader had a Sony X300 [precision HDR reference display]. With a foot switch he could either see HDR or SDR and he was very happy. He used to switch back and forth, and then he saw they matched, and he said ‘I don’t need to flip back and forth because I knew everything would match.’ It proves everything can work.”

‘Like a First Generation Print’
Variability in domestic viewing seems inevitable. Perhaps as a result, various other initiatives have been tried—not least of which involves viewer education. Cinematographer Stephen Murphy, BSC, ISC, has credits on “Mr and Mrs Smith” for Amazon, “Atlanta” for FX/Disney and “No One Gets Out Alive” for Netflix. He describes his taste in pictures as leveraging the ability of HDR to render not only bright highlights, but also dark blacks.

“The way I shoot, and the way I want stuff to look, tends to mean that I’m using only a small fraction of what HDR is capable of displaying,” Murphy states. “I don’t want the HDR version to be significantly different from the SDR version.

“I would say the HDR version is like a first generation print straight out of the lab,” Murphy added. “The blacks are nice and shiny and have more lustre, the highlights have more clarity, and there’s an improvement in the range of colors available. I don’t think you should be making HDR versions that suddenly have a substantially different look. There’s been plenty of times when I’ve had my highlights at 200 nits at the most. I have the full range of a thousand nits, but I don’t use it because I don’t want it to look like that.”

Better on-set monitoring is, Murphy says, increasingly available. “Everything I’ve shot in the last three years has been HDR primary… and on the project I wrapped recently, we had HDR on set.” 

Regardless, no filmmaker can guarantee the viewer has a viewing setup which will lead to a comparable experience, even with the best equipment, Murphy added.

“All you can do is finish your show to the highest possible level in a suite you know is consistent. I don’t think you can account for the variation of people placing their TV in front of a bright sunny window dialled up to 11.”

Advising the audience on TV placement, and the creator mode increasingly found on consumer equipment, might help—although the link between the creative and the audience seems persistently weak, as Murphy says, with bandwidth limits affecting pictures particularly in HDR.

“I think the issues are sometimes not what the cinematographer has done or what the colorist has done, but about how the networks are broadcasting those episodes. There’s a huge variability from network to network in how they broadcast. That’s what we need to try and improve.”

Murphy concludes with an idea which has probably dogged film and TV creatives for the entire history of cinematography. “It has to try to catch up with us, the creatives, rather than the other way around… to me it’s a display issue, not a creative issue. It’s about how I get this show to look its best on this display.”  

Netflix announced this week that it is deploying a version of HDR for its programming that optimizes video quality across all device categories ranging from TVs to mobiles and tablets.

HDR-VMAF, (Video Multimethod Assessment Fusion) which Netflix publicly announced in 2020, uses Netflix’s machine learning-based technology, dubbed “Dynamically Optimized (DO) encoding” to measure HDR quality by focusing on signal characteristics (as a result of lossy encoding) instead of display characteristics. Prior to that, the company was using a form of adaptive  bitrate streaming that uses predetermined bitrates—regardless of content characteristics—for HDR video streaming.

Although the streamer first publicized VMAF in 2020, the pandemic delayed in-person testing of the format. As an alternative ,Netflix worked with Dolby Laboratories to conduct subjective tests with 4K-HDR content using high-end OLED panels in calibrated conditions created in participants’ homes. Netflix A/B tested HDR-DO encodes in production in the last half of 2021 and had optimized the company’s entire HDR catalog with VMAF by June 2023. 

Neflix said deploying VMAF fully across its catalog is “reducing storage footprint and Internet data usage — and most importantly, improving the video quality for our members.”

NEW YORK—Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football (TNF) coverage will be returning on September 14 with a number of new enhancements, including native 1080p HDR picture quality, Key Plays, and the first NFL Black Friday game on November 24.

The 1080p HDR feed will mark the first time that TNF has been delivered in HDR or high dynamic range, which offers a greater contrast between light and dark, and more vivid colors. 

Key tech infrastructure for the coverage will include TNF’s production fleet of eight mobile units anchored by “Prime One,” the command center that produces each game in native High Dynamic Range (HDR) video and Dolby surround sound audio. 

The TNF arsenal of equipment also features 50+ cameras and aerial technology covering every inch of the field and angle of action, Amazon reported. 

Amazon said that Prime Video will be able to produce and deliver TNF in native High Dynamic Range (HDR) for the first time using its arsenal of next-generation production equipment, unparalleled live streaming technology, and a direct-to-consumer delivery that is not constrained by legacy systems present in traditional broadcasting, Amazon reported. 

The games will be streamed with a combination of Prime Video and AWS proprietary, end-to-end livestreaming solution that delivers ultra-low latency, eliminates drift, ensures synchronization, and delivers streams with unparalleled quality from the stadium to the screen in 10 seconds or less. This delivery speed matches—and often surpasses—what fans receive from traditional cable and broadcast networks, Amazon said. 

Another new feature for the TNF 2023 coverage will be “Key Plays.” 

Key Plays leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to provide fans with an ability to view in-game highlights and key moments on demand while watching TNF on Prime Video. A bank of pivotal moments builds as the game progresses and offers viewers immediate access to a full rundown of the action, the company explained. 

Prime Video is also providing Rapid Recap for those who join the game in-progress and want to catch up on the action they missed before entering the livestream. Accessible after selecting “Watch,” Rapid Recap employs AI and machine learning to compile up to 13 highlights, with the full recap lasting no longer than two minutes. While viewing the rundown, viewers have the ability to either skip or rewatch big plays within the queue and jump to live action at any time.

In addition the streams will feature the X-Ray Prime Video feature that provides layers of information, allows viewers to track advanced Next Gen Stats powered by AWS, watch on-demand replays enhanced with player performance metrics, get team and player info, shop official NFL merch, and even predict the outcome of the game with Fan Polls.

Prime Video will also be providing a weekly TNF alternate stream, “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats,” returns for all 16 regular-season matchups on Prime Video. 

Through a combination of on-screen graphic overlays, AI-driven insights, Next Gen Stats powered by AWS, and distinctive vantage points from the All-22 camera angle, the weekly alternate stream will deliver in real time pre-snap player ID tags, receiver route trees, identify open receivers and potential blitzers, and engage player-tracking data to display outstanding feats in ball-carrier speed, yards after catch, closing speed, and time to throw.

Also new-for-2023, Amazon reported that its Prime Vision additions will employ machine learning and custom logic to identify pivotal situations, allowing fans to place themselves in the coach’s shoes and read developing plays like a quarterback. 

Additional highlights that will debut on the “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats” stream throughout the 2023 season include:

• Defensive Alerts. Developed through a unique offseason collaboration between TNF producers, engineers, and Prime Video’s computer vision machine learning team, Defensive Alerts is an AI-powered feature driven by a neural network that gets stronger as more and more plays unfold. It tracks the movements of defensive players before the snap and identifies “players of interest” in real-time that are probable to rush the quarterback. When a probable blitzer is identified, a highlighted orb appears under them to give viewers a heads up. 
• Prime Targets. Prime Targets is an enhanced version of last season’s Open Receiver feature that identifies receivers that are open and likely to convert a first down. Through RFID chips in the players’ shoulder pads, Prime Targets tracks and highlights open receivers in real-time with a green orb when they meet qualifying logic.
• 4th Down Decision Guide. Utilizing Next Gen Stats’ 4th Down Decision Guide and machine learning, Prime Video will help fans understand how fourth-down decisions are made by coaches in real-time. In pivotal third-down down situations, “Prime Vision” will overlay a line on the field that indicates where the offense needs to advance the ball in order to receive a strong “go for it” recommendation on fourth down.
• Field Goal Target Zones. In order to provide more context surrounding drives where a field goal has added importance, such as at the end of a game or half, the “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats” Field Goal Target Zones overlay multiple lines on the field that deliver the statistical likelihoods that a kicker will make a field goal.

Due to its significant advancement in picture quality, HD video was instrumental in helping broadcasters captivate and retain audiences during the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. Fast forward to today, and High Dynamic Range (HDR) is playing a similar role, offering superior visual quality even to a casual viewer’s eye. 

But despite the introduction of HDR-capable televisions as early as 2016, the mass adoption of live HDR broadcasting has been slow to materialize. One significant factor in the hold-up was the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid lockdowns, the focus for broadcasters shifted toward adapting workflows to fully remote setups, effectively putting HDR on the backburner. 

However, with the return of in-person operations, the industry has once again set its sights on delivering more impressive programming with HDR technology. And despite facing multiple hurdles, the progress toward this goal has been substantial.

Shedding Some Light
HDR broadcasting tries to deliver a very large range of brightness to the viewer. In the real world, we encounter an enormous spectrum of brightness, extending from the darkest shadow in a corner to the overwhelming brilliance of the sun. In traditional “Standard” Dynamic Range (SDR) — utilized by the industry for the past seven decades — the output range of cameras was quite restricted, with the variance between darkness and light capped at approximately nine f-stops, which was also about the limit for the best CRT (and early flat-panel) TVs. 

Modern CCD sensors, LEDs, and other active display technologies offer a far more expansive range, which the HDR system is designed to support. However, this leap in brightness range introduced a significant problem — transporting the increased signal range through the existing television production and distribution infrastructure, particularly the ubiquitous 10-bit signal processing pipelines.

As with many problems in the broadcast industry, two technologies were developed to tackle the same issue: the hybrid log-gamma (HLG) and perceptual quantization (PQ) formats. These formats are both documented in ITU-R BT.2100 but were created by two groups that approached the issue from different perspectives. 

The HLG group concentrated on the scene light, focusing on the image’s brightness and its transformation into the representation on the wire. The team behind PQ took a reverse approach. They began with a reference display and examined what the human visual system could comprehend in terms of detail at varying brightness levels. 

Both formats are widely utilized, with HLG typically being employed during shooting and production and PQ more commonly used during distribution. Distribution systems such as HDR10 and Dolby Vision are based on the PQ standard. 

Final Hurdles
Another challenge on the road to widespread live HDR productions has been the absence of standardized workflows that ensure consistent results ― particularly for shooting an event that must deliver both HDR and SDR versions to the client ― enabling a production workflow that can be replicated with ease across different shows and live events. To better grasp the issue, it’s useful to again reflect on the switch to HD. 

When the industry first began the migration from SD, two separate trucks were used: one for each format. In a similar vein, the initial test HDR productions required separate trucks, crews, and cameras. In both cases, it quickly became apparent that for economic reasons, broadcasters needed to consolidate their operations into a one-truck setup that would produce both HDR and SDR versions. 

If executed well, the SDR version would also offer better image quality than it previously did. This approach is known as a single-master workflow, and every broadcaster recognizes it as their ultimate goal. 

Over the past few years, one of the more significant advancements in HDR has been the publication of a single-master workflow by NBCUniversal, which they utilize for high-profile events. The set of documents for this workflow is freely available to the industry.

A final hurdle in live HDR production involves delivering content seamlessly to viewers. While a majority of TVs sold in the past few years are both UHD and HDR-compatible, terrestrial television delivery of HDR (ATSC-3 and DVB-T2) is still in the trials phase.  

For cable and satellite operators, HDR content can be delivered to consumers’ homes, but it requires specialized set-top boxes and enough consumer interest to offer them as a service. 

Over-the-top (OTT) delivery services like Amazon Prime and AppleTV+ are in the best position to deliver HDR content. This is due to their ability to separately deliver HDR and SDR signals via the internet, without incurring significant additional costs. 

Conversely, satellite and cable operators would need to allocate separate transponder bandwidth for those two signals. In addition, OTT services can offer VOD-based HDR content for consumers to select from.

Ready for Showtime
With the advances that have taken place since the pandemic, the 2024 Paris Summer Games have the potential to be a watershed moment for live HDR productions. As broadcasters strive to deliver more modern and interesting content, the upcoming games represent a crucial opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of this technology. 

UHD and HDR signals for certain events will be available from the host, and each rights-holder is considering how to integrate HDR and UHD into its operations. UHD and HDR features are readily available in current-generation video processing equipment. In addition, most cameras sold in the last two or three years come equipped with an HDR feature, which can be easily activated by purchasing a license. 

Everything is in place for the Paris games to mark a pivotal point in HDR’s journey, potentially sparking the consumer’s demand for more HDR content delivery in the future.

The Television Academy has announced the recipients of the 75th Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards honoring an individual, company or organization for developments in broadcast technology. The award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023.

"Advancements in technology are a fundamental part of television production and greatly contribute to the elevation of the storytelling process," said Frank Scherma, chair of the Television Academy. "We are honored to recognize these distinguished and talented engineers, scientists and technologists who are at the forefront of pioneering fundamental advancements in television and storytelling."

"The Engineering, Science & Technology Emmys have always recognized domestic ingenuity as well as major innovators from around the world," said committee co-chair Barry Zegel.

"Half of this year's recipients are headquartered outside of North America," added Co-Chair Wendy Aylsworth, "and it's exciting to see how they are changing the television industry."

The Academy said that the Charles F. Jenkins Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors a living individual whose ongoing contributions have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering, will be given to Birney Dayton. 

Television technology pioneer, Birney Dayton, was one of the founders as well as CEO and CTO of NVISION, which he ran for 20 years. With the goal of building products to support and drive the development of high-definition television, NVISION has been lauded for their innovative products in digital audio, HDTV routing and other broadcast facility products. Prior to NVISION, Dayton was vice president of engineering for Grass Valley Group leading the development of digital products that streamlined the routing of digital signals through production and operations centers. An innovator in bringing fiber optics to the world of television, he built the first fiber-optic transmission system for over-the-air television, used for the opening ceremonies of the 1980 Olympics. In the late 1980s, Dayton chaired the systems analysis working party of the ACATS (Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service), which tested and selected the best-of-breed technologies to establish the digital television distribution standard that continues to operate throughout North America. In addition, he helped develop the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) analog and digital component video standards, was co-chair of the SMPTE high-definition electronic-production working group and was awarded the SMPTE Progress Medal for his numerous industry-changing digital audio products and technologies. Dayton has authored numerous industry papers and currently holds 15 patents.

This year's Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award, which honors an agency, company or institution whose contributions over time have significantly impacted television technology and engineering, will be given to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).

The National Association of Broadcasters is the voice for the nation's radio and television broadcasters. As the premier trade association for broadcasters, NAB advances the interests of their members in federal government, industry and public affairs; improves the quality and profitability of broadcasting; encourages content and technology innovation; and spotlights the important and unique ways stations serve their communities.

The Academy also announced that this year’s Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Awards will be given to: 

• Recipients: Chris Deighton, Richard Mead, Adrian Jeakins, Evangelos Apostolopoulos for the Brompton Technology Tessera SX40 LED video processor. Brompton Technology's Tessera SX40 LED (light-emitting diode) video processor has been a key enabler of the revolution in using LED screens for virtual production. To make LED screen-based virtual production even possible requires high-quality, artifact-free processing. The SX40 has become a significant ingredient in a winning recipe utilized in virtual production studios worldwide. Software upgrades have further improved performance and optimized virtual production workflows, ensuring the greatest possible flexibility for the creative team while delivering the gold standard for color accuracy and on-camera visual performance.
• Recipients: Steve Rosenbluth, Thomas E. Burgess, Konstantin Smola, Glen Winchester for the Concept Overdrive Motion System. Concept Overdrive is a valuable tool for virtual production and augmented reality and has become a professional standard for the control of machines and animatronics in television production worldwide. With an acclaimed user interface, the system implements a streaming motion network, real-time constraints and maximally digital motion control, which make it ideal for interfacing with the real world in modern production environments.
• Recipient: International Telecommunications Union – Radiocommunications – Study Group 6 for the Standardization of High Dynamic Range Television (HDR-TV). Since its first publication in July 2016, Recommendation ITU-R BT.2100 "image-parameter values for high-dynamic range television for use in production and international program exchange," more simply known as HDR-TV, has impacted the entire television industry, from cameras, post-production (especially in color processing), delivery though traditional broadcasting OTT (over-the-top) streaming services, and both professional and consumer display/television products. BT.2100 provided the critically important international specifications that have enabled HDR to become widely practiced and enjoyed by consumers.
• Recipients: Raymond Drewry and Jim Helman for the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR). Created by the technical staff at MovieLabs, the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR) unifies the commercial film and television industry around one standardized content ID, one infrastructure for creating and sharing the ID, and one nested data model for describing the relationships between abstract titles, specific edits of each title and their packagings for distribution. EIDR has provided the mission-critical infrastructure that has enabled the explosion in digital distribution of film and television content to an increasing set of consumer devices over the last 10 years.
• Recipient: David Eubank for the pCAM Pro. pCAM Pro is a mobile software application developed for Apple's iOS devices that offers a comprehensive suite of 26 cinematography tools designed for television and film professionals. These tools include calculations to guide decisions on designing camera shots, set design and construction, selecting lenses and camera sensor formats, achieving proper exposure and color balance, creating flicker-free lighting and lighting designs, and functional eye-light and lighting effects, among others. Most notably, it allows for accurate pre-visualization of specific lens and camera pairings, making it an invaluable tool for set crews.
• Recipients: Thomas Riedel, Jake Dodson, Wolfgang Fritz, Jiou-Pahn Lee for the Riedel BOLERO Wireless Intercom. Riedel Bolero's ADR (Advanced DECT Receiver) wireless intercom solution with multi-diversity and anti-reflection technology, delivers greater RF (radio frequency) robustness than ever seen before in the industry. In addition, it offers Touch 'n Go NFC (near-field communication) belt-pack registration and versatile operation as a wireless belt pack, a wireless key panel, or (an industry first) a walkie talkie. It also features bluetooth compatibility for phone connections. It successfully provides clear communications in venues that had previously been difficult or impossible to cover due to physical venue design or competing DECT (digital enhanced cordless telecommunications) systems.
• Recipients: Jeffrey Gray, Russell Hocken, Barrett Phillips, Greg Smokler for the SmallHD Monitor Platform. SmallHD's rugged and daylight-viewable production monitors have become a staple on every production set, from scripted dramas to live broadcasts. SmallHD's hardware platform features an entirely custom electronic architecture that allows for continuous expansion of features and connectivity as well as enabling the unique industry-leading PageOS 5 monitoring software system. From the compact on-camera Smart 5 and Smart 7 series to the 4K production monitor line, SmallHD has created a unified and cohesive series of monitors that allow for accurate and consistent viewing and color reproduction across different cameras and applications, ensuring a consistent creative vision from set to final output.
• Recipients: Meir Shashoua, Yaniv Alon, Shai Fishman for the Waves Clarity Vx Pro. Clarity Vx Pro is a revolutionary noise-reduction plugin that uses the cutting-edge and powerful Neural Networks engine developed by Waves to separate dialogue from ambience at the highest quality without artifacts and in real time, which sets a new standard in post-production. Addressing today's post-production needs, Clarity Vx Pro allows for real-time processing and vastly speeds up and enhances the workflow of dialogue editing and mixing. Clarity works in most DAWs (digital audio workstations) to create immediate, clean results without having to render, bounce, duplicate or consolidate tracks. It allows editors and mixers to listen to the dialog processing as part of the whole mix in context.

The Engineering, Science & Technology Emmys are made possible by Television Academy sponsors Drybar, Franciacorta, JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery, People and United Airlines.

AJA has announced that the multi-camera cinematic production solutions shop Funicular Goats has been using its technologies on a variety of productions, including the AJA FS-HDR for live grading, the  AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G ProRes and DNx recorders/players and the AJA KUMO 3232-12G router. 

Since launching in 2019 with co-founding trio Morgan Kellum, James Coker, and Aaron Cooke at the helm, Funicular Goats established a stellar reputation across the live event, broadcast, and streaming production communities. Today, its multi-camera equipment, workflow, and technical management expertise is sought after for a wide array of projects, including big-name concert productions, the annual big game halftime show, comedy specials, and more. 

Its team works closely with all key project stakeholders to plan a well-thought-out, multi-camera workflow design, and the encompassing tech – including cameras, comms, the engineering fly pack, cameras, wireless systems for the cameras, transmission (digital, broadcast, or satellite) fiber infrastructure, and on-set monitoring solutions. Projects average 10-20 cameras per show, but the team has worked on projects involving up to more than 30 cameras, the founders of the company explained.  

Across productions, Funicular Goats must manage different elements and workflow refinement, but ninety percent of the time, the project demands live grading, which means AJA FS-HDR real-time HDR/WCG converters are on set. Running a camera log feed through the FS-HDR allows the team to achieve a more comprehensive range of RGB to build a better look than using just an RCP camera control alone. 

“Productions are often looking for ways to execute their projects but aren’t certain how to do it, so they lean on us. We advise them on how to make it happen and help them achieve the look they’re aiming for in the most efficient way,” explained Morgan Kellum. “We have a comfortable history of doing shows in certain ways and using specific tools (like FS-HDR for live color grading and frame sync), so we'll lean into that, but we also figure out how to modify the workflow and our fly packs and fiber systems to suit each client’s specific needs."

Projects typically require SDR delivery, but Funicular Goats is seeing HDR requests grow, especially for concert productions and larger scale event broadcasts. To this end, FS-HDR has become a Swiss army knife for the team. 

“We love FS-HDR, from its redundant power to the fact that we can count on it to do what it’s supposed to without fail,” explained Coker. “It has great features for everything from embedding to frame syncing and live grading; it does it all.”

FS-HDR also supports conversion needs across Funicular Goat projects. The team may need to use it to help step down a 12G-SDI or 6G-SDI feed from a cinema camera to 1080 for viewing, as well as for coloring and recording. The device also enables frame rate conversion, which the team will leverage when moving from 24p to a broadcast standard for a truck workflow. They might bring back a log feed 23.98p that will hit their distribution amplifier (DA) and into a switcher where they cut 23p. Out of the DA, that feed might go to the FS-HDR, where they can then go 29.9p and elsewhere with it to a line cut, and cut 29.97p for broadcast, the companies reported. 

In addition to live grading, recording is essential to Funicular Goats’ workflow designs. The team often completes 4K recordings with a cinema camera, with a 1080 workflow out for a reference line for added flexibility. If delivering a 1080 project, they’ll record the loaded or color corrected 1080 files to AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G ProRes and DNx recorders/players. This approach ensures they have a master finish of the project as well as the 4K log footage to work with. 

If footage is already color corrected, Funicular Goats can do an online cleanup with those files or edit with them as well, the company explained. They may opt to use Ki Pro Ultra 12G as a quad HD recorder for four 1080 feeds on one project, or for backup 1080 recordings, ISOs of the cameras, or to create multiple copies of a program or multiple views on others. Sometimes, they’ll even do a 6G-SDI or 12G-SDI into the Ki Pro Ultra 12G. When they need to hand off thumb drives with H.264 recordings after an event, they often use AJA Ki Pro GO. 

“We love our Ki Pros because they’re so flexible; they give us a lot of options and provide a cost-effective way to record in different flavors. We get edit ready files that we can have our downloader dump onto a drive to be shared with production,” added Kellum. “AJA gear like Ki Pro Ultra 12G and FS-HDR are staples in our inventory, and we use them on nearly every show because they’ve got such a great track record of being reliable. We also use of a ton of other AJA products – everything from the KUMO 3232-12G routers, to the 12GDA and Hi5 Mini-Converters, throw down distribution amplifiers, and FS2 frame syncs.”

Funicular Goats’ credits span the Elton John concert at Dodger Stadium, “The Weekend: Live at SoFi Stadium” for HBO Max, as well as comedy specials and the annual big game, and more. For the big game halftime show earlier this year, Funicular Goats captured 29.97p from Sony VENICE 2 cameras. 

The feeds were sent to its production truck with an AJA KUMO 3232-12G router on-board. The feeds hit their distribution amplifiers first, and were then sent through the router and Funicular Goats’ 12 FS-HDRs, as well as through 16 additional FS-HDRs on site, and then into the switcher and out for broadcast distribution. The FS-HDRs enabled the DIT crew to work with the log and HDR feeds and bounce them back and forth while also supporting frame syncing to lock all feeds with the main program audio. 

Whether servicing the halftime show production, a concert, or a comedy special, Funicular Goats excels at finding innovative ways to use new equipment to help clients meet and exceed their production goals. Morgan concluded, 

“Our dedication to the technology and craft shines through in the look and feel of every project,” Kellum said. “What gets me excited to come to work each day are the great team of people I work with and the fact that I get to play a part in influencing the look and feel of these projects. Getting to play with cool gear from AJA gear often is a bonus.”

Sure, HDR (aka high dynamic range) is better than SDR (standard dynamic range, a term we didn’t even need until we had HDR), but why?

SDR is regular television—it can produce a maximum luminance level of around 100 nits limited to Rec.709. HDR gives a maximum luminance of 1,000 to 10,000 nits (and a minimum of 400 nits), with brighter brights, more detailed darks and more saturated colors with Rec, 2020 (Fig 1). The more realistic color is due more to WCG (wide color gamut) than to HDR itself. 

Three Formats
There are three main display formats for HDR: HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. As you would expect, each handles HDR differently.

HDR10 is open standard, typically mastered between 400 to 4,000 nits. It’s a PQ (perceptual quantizer) transfer function with static metadata, delivering the same brightness and tone mapping for the entire program. 

HDR10+ is royalty-free for the content creator. TV/display manufacturers pay an annual license fee. Dolby Vision, similar to HDR10+, is proprietary from Dolby Laboratories. Both are mastered from 1,000 to 4,000 nits using dynamic metadata that adjusts the brightness and tone mapping per scene. 

For HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, most content is mastered at around 1,000 nits. While seemingly the same, Dolby Vision is considered better than HDR10+ in areas such as peak brightness minimum, tone mapping, TV support and content availability, according to a number of sources.  

Stretching the Truth
Marketing & PR are one-half truth, one-half half-truths and one half omitting the truth—it all depends on what’s being sold. But sometimes, the people doing the selling don’t really understand what they’re selling.

In a recent “Consumer Reports”’ story, “How to Watch Super Bowl LVII in 4K HDR,” buried deep in the story, there’s an image appearing to be from DirecTV to promote 4K HDR, comparing two images of a colorful parrot to show the better quality of “4K
HDR 2160p.” (Fig. 2)

But that image is being compared to “Full HD 1080p”—not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison with only one image being HDR. The message is clear: This is how great the Super Bowl will look, compared to your old fashioned 1080p SDR TV, if you can get it in 4K. But if the 1080p image had HDR, the difference wouldn’t be so… different.

Do We Really Need 4K if HDR is So Good?
SMPTE Life Fellow Mark Schubin has compared formats, frame rates and HDR to show what provided the best data option.

“HDR offers the most bang for the bit,” Schubin said. Preliminary HDR data that he presented at the annual HPA Tech Retreat in 2016 from EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne/Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne) from 2014 showed a “tremendous improvement and very, very little additional bits required, anything from zero to maybe something around 20%.” 

That improvement was in peak brightness. Schubin compared it to EBU quality comparisons from 2013 between HD (720p, 1080i and 1080p) and 4K showing “very little improvement” in quality, as well as high frame rates up to 240Hz, which showed “a significant improvement [in quality], but you also have to double the bitrate for every doubling of the framerate.”

The greater brightness and contrast range of HDR is key. “What makes it more realistic is the human visual system because we perceive more contrast as spatial resolution,” said Matthew Goldman, senior director, Media Engineering & Architecture for Sinclair Broadcast Group. “It looks more real.”

Returning to Fox’s Super Bowl 4K upconversion, I asked Schubin: “What is
your opinion of the viewer’s quality difference between 1080p60 HDR and 2160p60 HDR on a 4K TV that would upconvert the 1080p
to 2160p?”

“Without knowing the specific equipment involved, I really can’t say which is better, but I’d say the difference is probably negligible,” Schubin said. “It’s not clear that Fox’s technology would necessarily be better than what’s in a TV. Yes, it costs more, but the TV stuff is integrated and amortized over tens of millions of sets. But the production in HLG could be significant. 

“When HDR has been perceived as problematic—such as the very dark ‘Game of Thrones’—the production has not been HLG,” he added. “In the dark areas, HLG is essentially the same as SDR; it’s in the bright areas that it offers much more range, so it’s probably good to use for the live
Super Bowl.”

Schubin didn’t watch this year’s Super Bowl in HDR, but added: “Having watched football in HLG HDR, I think it offers a substantial advantage, visible even on a small screen from across the room. Having watched football in HD, upconverted to 4K, and true 4K, on side-by-side monitors, I’d say differences are perceptible, but just barely—definitely not the big kick added by HDR.”

More Comparisons
1080p HDR, upconverted 4K HDR or native 4K HDR: which is better?

What do you mean by “better?”

Tim Walker, senior product manager (HDR image analyzers, frame syncs, routers, scaling and scan converters), at AJA Video Systems, puts it this way: “There’s broadcasters that are being bullish doing and promoting HDR,” he said. “Others question the extra expense in producing HDR. But for a top-end broadcaster, you’re investing in your archive for generations to come from the moments captured today.” 

That means producing the best possible imagery today: 4K HDR. 

“Doing [less expensive] upconversion at distribution gets you that 4K banner,” Walker added. Upconverters do an exceptional job—that’s one reason people do 1080p HDR and not worry about 4K in the truck.”

Walker, Goldman and Schubin are firmly in the “better pixels, not more pixels” camp.

“Having HDR makes for a better viewing experience from home,” said Walker. “Plus, you can absolutely see a benefit of down-mapping or tone-mapping to SDR. Viewers benefit from the entire signal processing chain using HDR. In live sports, you won’t get the highlights off the helmets, but you will get more detail in the image in the darks and brights. SDR will benefit from a native HDR production.”

Then There's Sinclair
Sinclair is doing HDR 24/7 with ATSC 3.0 over the air broadcasts in more than 30 markets nationwide (and growing).

“We absolutely see it as a business advantage at the end of the day, improving the viewing experience of our viewers,” said Goldman. ”Other than sports, it just looks more realistic—the screen pops. You don’t know you’re missing it until you’ve got it. All I have to do is show it to you. Consumers may not know what HDR is, but they know they like it, so there’s definitely a commercial advantage.”

What makes Sinclair unique is the HDR they’re using is not HDR10. “We’re using part of the ATSC 3.0 standard, A/341, and use Advanced HDR by Technicolor [SL-HDR1], as a transmission format,” said Goldman. “It’s not a new HDR format. What SL-HDR1 lets us do is send SDR video as a base layer plus an enhancement layer for HDR as part of the metadata stream. 

“The reason we do this is that it doesn’t matter how you get to the TV, it’ll display a useable picture,” Goldman added. “It’ll do great SDR—and with the SL-HDR1 metadata reconstruction—HDR with the SDR video without having to rely on the TV. We guarantee that the original artistic intent is maintained for both SDR and HDR.”

Every HDR TV uses HDMI with EDID (Extended Display Identification Data)—that’s part of the handshake between the TV and the signal device. But what are the capabilities of the display? Is it HDR? What formats? What’s the minimum light level, peak white level, colorimetry? The HDR is then adapted for that display. If it’s SDR only, that’s all it gets. Sinclair uses SL-HDR1 because, according to Goldman, it’s the only transport format that’s TV set-independent and delivers a useable picture. 

I asked both Goldman from Sinclair and Walker from AJA the same visual quality question: With all things being equal, on a scale from 1 to 10, if 1080p SDR is a 1 and 4K HDR is a 10, where would you place 1080p HDR and 4K SDR?

Both answered exactly the same: 1080p HDR sits at 8, while 4K SDR sits at 4 (Fig. 3). 

That’s the power of HDR, but it doesn’t negate shooting to archive in 4K HDR. The question is: How do you want your production perceived by viewers today… and in the years to come? 

HUDSON, Mass.—BitFire has launched the capability to transport live video programming in High Dynamic Range (HDR) over the BitFire Video Transport Network. 

This latest update allows broadcasters, streaming providers, sports leagues, production companies, and event promoters to deliver visual content with maximum contrast, making images appear richer and more brilliant. With this advancement in video transmission, BitFire has met the challenge of delivering HDR across long-haul IP networks.

“HDR is on the rise as more broadcasters embrace high dynamic range in their live productions,” said Ben Grafchik, vice president of business development at BitFire Networks. “At BitFire, we’re proud to provide the ability to deliver HDR through our global IP network.”

HDR provides an increase in the available range of luminance within an image, meaning the overall difference between the darkest shadows and brightest highlights is much greater than that of traditional SDR television. The human eye cannot take in the entire HDR range at once, causing the viewer’s visual system to react as though they were in the scene, allowing HDR to display astonishingly rich images that are perceived more intensely.

BitFire noted that its new support of HDR has a number of implications: 

• For broadcasters, HDR means live productions will display with greater luminance, headroom, and color depth. Subjects and backgrounds will appear richer and more detailed, allowing programs to more faithfully convey the experience of being there.
• For production teams, HDR provides an enriched ability to manage visual details, giving V1s and colorists the control to create a more appealing cinematic impact. The advanced capabilities of your cameras, studio equipment, and control room technology can now be transmitted to networks and other distribution and broadcast partners with ease.
• For audiences, HDR delivers images that appear more vibrant and immersive, with deeper shadows and clearer highlights, optimizing the emotional impact of cinematic scenes and thrilling action alike.
• For businesses, HDR brings the capability to exceed viewers’ expectations with the highest quality images available. For remote production, in-studio services, post-production, or network distribution, the ability to deliver HDR throughout the workflow offers a competitive edge.
• Most importantly, this update leverages BitFire’s software-defined platform to increase broadcast capabilities using the BitFire hardware already deployed, further improving workflow, impressing audiences, and expanding opportunities for producers and broadcasters.

More information about BitFire’s globally-scalable Video Transport Network, its multiple cloud and physical data centers, and the capabilities of its BitFire Engines to encode and decode SDI video, in full 10-bit HDR, for IP transmission is available at bitfire.tv. 

LAS VEGAS—Hisense, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Advanced HDR By Technicolor are demoing technologies at CES 2023 showcasing high dynamic range (HDR) programming using NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, broadcasts.  

Sinclair Broadcast Group is delivering high dynamic range content broadcast over the air to Hisense TVs that have integrated Advanced HDR by Technicolor solutions on display at the Hisense booth located at Tech East, LVCC, Central Hall – 16659. 

Currently 36 NextGen Broadcast (ATSC 3.0) stations owned by Sinclair transmit over-the-air content in HDR 24 hours a day, seven days a week, using Advanced HDR by Technicolor solutions. 

“The integration of Advanced HDR by Technicolor into Hisense TVs -- a brand that is rapidly growing in the United States -- means more viewers will be able to enjoy vibrant HDR content offered by leading broadcasters, such as Sinclair,” said Tony Bozzini, head of business development for Advanced HDR by Technicolor at Philips. 

The single-stream solution from Advanced HDR by Technicolor uses metadata to upconvert legacy standard dynamic range (SDR) content to HDR on devices like the U7K and U8K models of Hisense TVs, which can decode the metadata and display the enhanced signal, greatly increasing the viewing experience compared to SDR. Meanwhile, households that still need to purchase TVs capable of displaying content in Advanced HDR by Technicolor can continue to receive the highest quality SDR signal. 

“Hisense is committed to providing the best possible picture quality to consumers. With leading broadcasters, like Sinclair, offering a growing array of HDR content, especially live sports, Hisense ensures those in service areas of Sinclair’s increasing number of deployed NextGen Broadcast stations can access and enjoy the full visual benefits offered by the latest technological innovations”, said David Gold, President of Hisense USA. 

The companies noted that live sports remain a key differentiator for major broadcasters. Including Advanced HDR by Technicolor in the ATSC 3.0 standard ensures broadcasters remain the top choice for viewing live sporting events. 

“For broadcasters who put the customer experience at the top of the list, delivering the best visual image is essential. This is especially true when it comes to broadcasting live sporting events. That is why Sinclair Broadcast Group is ensuring that stations implementing ATSC 3.0 do so with Advanced HDR by Technicolor,” said Mark Aitken, senior vice president of technology for Sinclair Broadcast Group and president of ONE Media 3.0.

The demo is available at the Hisense booth located at Tech East, LVCC, Central Hall – 16659. 

Brazilian broadcaster Globo has launched what’s described as the "world’s first broadcast" of an MPEG-5 LCEVC-enhanced channel during the FIFA World Cup.

MPEG-5 part 2 LCEVC (Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding) specifies an enhancement layer which can boost the compression efficiency of any existing or future video codec, enabling higher quality at up to 40 per cent lower bitrates.

The Globo trial includes a live broadcast channel that leverages the enhancement layer of LCEVC to convert an existing TV 2.0 signal into a High-Dynamic Range (HDR) 10-bit channel for enabled receivers. Transmission takes place over the existing ISDB-Tb system.

The showcase also features the first end-to-end trial over DASH streaming of an LCEVC-enhanced VVC video, as an example of the capabilities that are developing to support the upcoming TV 3.0 standard, Brazil’s next-generation DTT system that is due to be deployed in 2025.

According to V-Nova, it is the first time these technologies have been used in a complete end-to-end production to provide 4K HDR video with immersive and personalised audio. The system also facilitates the distribution of current and future formats, including 8K resolution, HDR and Next-Generation Audio (NGA) to over-the-air broadcast (OTA) and over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms, added the company.

Carlos Cosme, innovation specialist at Globo, said: “It is amazing how fast this ecosystem is being formed, with various implementations based on software and hardware. Globo, at the technological forefront, is experimenting for the first time in Brazil the joint operation of the MPEG-5 LCEVC codec with the H.264 codec, all of this is associated with an immersive and personalized acoustic experience.

“In this showcase, the base layer is a 1080i, 8-bit, SDR, BT.709 signal targeting current Brazilian TV sets. Using the information present in the enhancement layer, the LCEVC codec enhances the quality of the base layer and provides a video signal with improved quality, i.e., 1080p, 10-bit, HDR10, and BT.2020,” added Cosme.

“In the second showcase, using the 4K production signal from the World Cup, we demonstrated the joint use of LCEVC with VVC, both technologies chosen by the SBTVD Forum to make up the technology stack of the future 3.0 TV in Brazil. We are very proud to be able to experience first-hand all these technologies operating together.”

The LCEVC live showcase runs during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Nov. 20-Dec. 18.

This article originally appeared on TVB Europe.

PHILADELPHIA—Comcast will give subscribers a personalized, interactive and bilingual viewing experience for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 via its Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex platforms, Xfinity Stream app and XClass TV, it said today.

For the first time it will enable eligible Xfinity X1 subscribers to watch the tournament in Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR) 4K, it said.

Its platforms will aggregate all available English and Spanish live coverage and on-demand replays into one comprehensive destination. New platform features are available to enhance their viewing experience, it said.

(Read also: Fox Sports Ready for 4K/HDR FIFA World Cup)

Fox Sports and Telemundo are the official FIFA World Cup English and Spanish language broadcast rights holders for the soccer tournament, Nov.  20-Dec. 18. 

“The FIFA World Cup is going to be one of the biggest sporting events in 2022, and with streaming coverage from Peacock and Tubi, there will be more ways to watch than ever,” said Comcast executive director of product management Vito Forlenza. “Our platforms will bring together all the various viewing options into one comprehensive destination, making it easy for our customers—whether a pay TV customer with X1 or a steamer with Flex or XClass TV—to enjoy all 64 matches, live or on demand, in the language of their choice.” 

X1 subscribers will be able to say the words “World Cup” or “Copa Mundial” into their Xfinity voice remote to access coverage. Besides voice access, features include:

• Dolby Vision: A first for the World Cup, live 4K Dolby Vision HDR coverage from Fox Sports will only be available in the U.S. on the platform.
• Personalized viewing that enables viewers to select their favorite teams to create a custom World Cup viewing experiences with access to live coverage and match highlights across devices from a central location. Coverage of teams selected as favorites will carry over to the Xfinity Stream app. Viewers also can opt in to receive notifications of games on their TVs and mobile devices.
• Interactive tournament bracket availability via X1 that allows fans to track the latest schedules, get scores and standings and prepare for upcoming matches by setting their recording function and by getting reminders.
• Machine-learning driven highlights of the high-impact plays, goals, penalty kicks and saves noted in their DVR recordings so they can quickly find the best moments. 

On Xfinity Flex and XClass TV, Comcast will offer streamers a destination with all tournament-related programming available to stream, including live matches and same-day replays of all 64 matches in Spanish from Peacock, same-day replays of all 64 matches in English available from Tubi and tournament highlights and analysis. A tournament bracket is also available, it said.

This year’s World Cup presentations are the first time the company will make available personalized sports viewing features on its Xfinity Flex. They include the ability to select favorite teams to personalize the experience and an option to receive notifications, it said. 

A quick, easy upgrade to Xfinity TV is available for Flex subscribers via the Stream app so they can access live coverage from Fox and Telemundo, the company said.

More information is available on the company’s website. 

SEATTLE—There’s a rule of thumb in video image capture that the finished picture will only be as good as the weakest part of the signal path. HDR (High Dynamic Range) is no exception.

“The great news is that the camera manufacturers have come a long ways in terms of how many stops of lights they can record,” said Stosh Durbacz, national sales manager at FUJIFILM Optical Device Division. “So we, the lens folks, have had to keep pace with that.”

Although HDR is a function of the processor inside the camera, the lens definitely plays a part, according to John Stoner, senior product specialist for Canon. “The light that passes through to the processer first passes through the lens, so if that light’s not clean, you’re never going to get a good HDR image,” he said.

Art Adams, cinema lens specialist at ARRI, said that HDR makes everything in a lens more pronounced. “That includes chromatic aberration, flare, softness at the edges, a lot of things that can be really distracting and can also impact the HDR image significantly.”

Secret Sauce
One critical component of a lens is the glass  optics within it. As light passes through each glass element, it creates reflections, which appear more pronounced in HDR. One way lensmakers deal with these reflections is with antireflective coatings.

“One of the biggest deciding factors is the antireflective coating that’s on the lenses,” said Snehal Patel, Head of Cinema Sales, Americas, Carl Zeiss SBE. “The higher quality antireflective coating, the higher performing antireflective coating you have on your lenses, the more exposure range you’re going to see in the lens, even when it’s wide open.”

FUJIFILM’s Durbacz noted: “Coatings are huge—they’re the secret sauce of any lens. They minimize the reflection of light. Every time light passes through a piece of glass, it comes in and then goes out, and there’s light that if reflected. So what we want to do is minimize that. These modern lenses can be 15-25-30 individual pieces of glass, all moving in unison.”

He also pointed out that in addition to reflections from the glass elements in a lens, there are other components that can create reflections. “The way the internal barrels are constructed, there’s baffling built in. It’s very small machining of those internal surfaces that will deaden any stray light that hits them.”

Another thing that’s improved is the black matte paint that’s used inside of the lens, according to ZEISS’ Patel. “Wherever you have glass elements inside the lens, you usually coat the edges with a matte black finish,” he said. “And any metal inside the lens that might be visible in the interior optics, you also coat that with matte black finish.“

“We have a design we call ‘flocking,’” said Canon’s Stoner, “which are mechanical ridges inside the barrel to eliminate that reflection of light before it gets to the camera sensor.”

Another lens error that becomes more pronounced when shooting in HDR is center to edge roll-off. FUJIFILM’s Durbacz pointed out: “Using the coatings and the grinding and polishing of the glass, we want to make sure that from the center of the lens—from the sweet spot out to the corners—that we’re providing flat illumination; we don’t have perceptible roll-off to the camera, from the center to the corner.”

ARRI makes both cameras and lenses for HDR. “Because we now have a camera that captures more dynamic range than anything else out there, the Alexa 35, we needed a set of lenses that would work with it,” said ARRI’s Adams. “We went back and redesigned our PL mount for this new camera. We realized that the previous design still had enough stray light issues that in HDR, with the new camera, you could start compromising your blacks, you could see them turn gray.”

To address HDR in broadcast production, Canon and Sony collaborated on ALAC (Automatic Chromatic Aberration Correction), a function that allows  automatic feedback between the lens and the camera, according to Stoner. “The lens tells the camera ‘I’m at this focal length and this iris position,’ and then the camera compensates for chromatic aberration, and removes them from the image before they get to the physical side.”

Difficult Compromise
Lensmakers pointed out that the degree of difficulty goes up when it comes to perfecting a zoom lens for HDR production.

“A zoom lens has a lot more glass in it,” said FUJIFILM’s Durbacz. “We’ve got moving groups, and we’ve got to maintain focus at all these different focal lengths. If you’re focused out to 25 feet, and you zoom the lens, there’s a lot going on. And there are additional groups of glass within the lens that the light has to transmit through.” 

ARRI’s Adams pointed to compromises that need to be taken. “Our zooms are more corrected for chromatic aberration, and we allow a little bit of distortion,” he said. “It’s a balancing act, they interact with each other. In a prime lens you can correct for both chromatic aberration and distortion because you’re only concentrating on one focal length. In a zoom, where you have a large range of focal lengths, you really have to go after one or the other or the lens gets very big and very, very expensive.

“So we opt to go toward correcting for chromatic aberration, because we think a little bit of distortion isn’t going to be as noticeable in HDR as chromatic aberration is. So our zoom lenses are very corrected for chromatic aberration, but there will be a little bit of distortion.”

While lensmakers go to great effort and expense to remove lens errors that have become noticeable in HDR, they’re aware that many cinematographers want the lenses to provide some character in addition to scientific perfection.

“What we’ve tried to do is to come up with a family of lenses, our Signature lenses, that work with HDR,” said Adams. “We try to maintain the most dynamic range possible, while eliminating the disturbing things that HDR doesn’t like, like chromatic aberration, and still make lenses that have character.”

ZEISS offers two different HDR- ready lens families: Supreme Prime and Supreme Prime Radiant. “The Supreme Primes are a cleaner set of lenses,” said Patel. “They have a wonderful cinematic look to them, they’re basically the successor to our Master Primes. They have both the 35 and full-frame coverage. And there’s a range of 14 focal lengths, from 15mm to 200mm. And then the Supreme Prime Radiant is a modified version of the Supreme Primes that add blue flare characteristics by manipulating anti-flare reflective coatings.”

“Now if we’re looking at real old lenses,” said Durbacz, “they still mount on these modern cameras, which is fantastic. But sometimes you start to see corner shading, or illumination roll-off to the corner. Those lenses were designed at a time when cameras didn’t see that kind of latitude, so you didn’t have to worry about a roll-off from the center out to the corner.”

Patel pointed out that “some of the things that they loved about the lenses, like maybe the flare, or the look of it, there are some qualities that maybe they didn’t notice before in some lenses that they notice now in HDR. That would be the only danger, that there might be something that they didn’t expect. They’re using a lens where they got a certain look before, but looking at it in HDR, they go ‘wow, the flares in there are very prominent, you can really see that.’

“Of course you can go back to color correction and maybe level out the blue tones and what not, to reduce the contrast level,” he added. “But it might just be baked into the image, and you won’t be able to change it as much as you want. That’s why I always say to test. You might like what you get; you might not. You certainly can get a more scientifically accurate image now, but it may not be the correct image for the production.”

Lensmakers also recommend monitoring in HDR during production itself, even if the first release will not be in HDR.

Adams warned: “Movies and TV shows especially, are going to have a long lifespan now, with streaming libraries, and I don’t think people are aware of what’s going to happen when those products are remastered for different levels of HDR, or just when they’re graded in HDR while the DP has been watching Rec 709 on the set. I think [HDR monitoring] is going to become desirable as people see the artifacts that creep in that they aren’t able to see. 

“It’s not exactly like shooting film, where you didn’t see what it was going to look like until the dailies were out, but there are probably 30-40% of the image that you’re not seeing when you shoot in Rec 709, and then graded in HDR.”  l

An increasing number of European broadcasters are investing in HDR production and distribution. They recognize that, to audiences, it makes an obvious difference — HDR is a means of attracting and retaining viewers.

Data shows that consumers see HDR as having a big impact: bigger, perhaps, than 4K. It may be that we will see the practical choice of 1080p/HDR as a dominant format — it is much more cost-effective than the jump all the way to 4K HDR, for basically the same audience impact.

HDR is already commonly used in cinema/drama production, where the concepts of color management are well-established, and the standard edit software platforms are HDR-compatible.

The challenge comes in live production — particularly live sports. This is the genre that always drives innovation in broadcasting, because of the stakes involved (expensive rights and giant audiences) and the existing technical challenges (e.g., camera shading for sunlight and shadows in the same scene).

Television production isn’t just about relaying the exact scene to the viewer. Producers and networks may also apply their own specific “looks” — driving their unique brand value, while also showcasing the added dynamic range and color gamut. Frequently, they will apply custom LUTs tuned to create the look they want.

The main cameras are routinely “shaded” by trained professionals to provide the matching and to supervise the output quality. But a large sport shoot will involve many other cameras, i.e., POVs, stump cameras in cricket, goalmouth cameras in football. In HDR, the inter-mixing of these SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) sources into the HDR production is disruptive if not managed — these signals must be processed to match the look of the main signals as closely as possible.

On an outside broadcast, where desk space is limited, any additional color shading must fit into the existing workspace and operator footprint. Imagine has worked on innovative solutions to address this issue — collaborating with Cyanview to enable their control surface for color manipulation, as well as with many other operational control systems to support our SNP UHD/HDR processing engine.

Creating a consistent production from a large footprint of sources and delivering the artistic vision of the director in HDR are the primary objectives.  But it is also critically important to translate that HDR look back into SDR — the way the vast majority of today’s viewers will see it. Responsibility for these translations is complex; the camera shaders and technical directors must consider how their fantastic HDR scenes will look in SDR, and the eventual translation downstream at the network hub must be done the same way it was “checked” on the truck.

Video processors and converters are found at many steps along the production pipeline, and as these productions shift into HDR, all these processors must be HDR-capable to preserve the signal fidelity — sometimes including custom LUTs and production-specific adjustments. All while fitting into the rack space, power, and other operational requirements of what is already in place.

At Imagine, we have been working on HDR with broadcasters and production companies for years, delivering UHD/HDR capabilities to operations as diverse as QVC Japan and the NFL Network in the USA. That has meant many conversations about HDR and color space conversion, even as the production industry has been trying to standardize on how these HDR workflows should work. Flexibility is key, as there are many aspects of HDR production that are not yet settled or agreed among the production professionals, so our HDR processors must be able to adapt to the needs and wants of each user.

Major broadcasters are continuing to study how HDR affects viewership, with a focus on the practicalities of delivering productions at the right cost. The next wave of broadcasters coming into HDR all benefit from this accumulated knowledge and experience.

With the right technical infrastructure enabling consistent HDR delivery even within established SDR workflows, the scene is set for increased deployment of HDR into more live event productions.

NEW YORK—"Game of Thrones” fans who can’t get enough of the struggle among the families competing for control of the Seven Kingdoms will have a new way to enjoy the show’s eight seasons in 4K Utra HD with High Dynamic Range (HDR) beginning in August when HBO Max launches HDR10 and Dolby Vision streams of the series.

The only alternative fans previously had to enjoy the series in 4K HDR was via an Ultra-HD Blu-ray player and the disk set. HBO Max will also make the series available with Dolby Atmos sound.

In a press release dated July 21, WarnerMedia, the parent company of HBO Max, announced the decision to begin 4K HDR stream. The company also plans to stream its new series, “House of the Dragon,” in 4K HDR as well as make an augmented reality app, “House of the Dragon: DracARys,” available in the Apple and Google Play stores.

To watch the 4K HDR streams, viewers will require an HBO Max subscription ($14.99), an internet connection, a 4K Ultra HD display with HDR support, such as a smart TV or certain media tablets like some Apple iPads, and a streaming device that supports 4K HDR, such as an Amazon Fire Stick 4K or Google Chromecast Ultra. (HBO Max has published a detailed list of what’s needed on its website.)

The 4K UHD HDR streams of the two series join more than 25 movies in the streamer’s library available with Dolby Vision HDR, including “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition,” “King Richard,” “No Sudden Move” and the four “Matrix” movies.

HBO Max 4K content is available to Hulu subscribers as an add-on subscription. Other app stores include those from Apple, Google, Roku and Samsung TV.

More information is available on the HBO Max website. 

NEW ORLEANS—After having positive experiences using Sony’s OLED monitors for years, I chose their PVM-X2400 24-inch 4K HDR monitor to use on my latest project, the upcoming film, “Where the Crawdads Sing,” based on the best-selling novel.  

I had worked with other HDR monitors in the past, which were too big, too heavy and too expensive. When I knew we needed HDR for this movie, the latest Sony model appeared to be a viable option. Due to my previous experience with HDR monitors, I prefer to use my own technology and after learning more about Sony’s PVM-X2400, it met most of my requirements.  The 24-inch option is a good size for looking at content, without being too small to see details or too large to be practical.

Sony’s LED technology was the primary reason I chose the PVM-X2400. I’ve always valued the black levels of Sony’s OLED monitors and while LED didn’t offer the exact same experience, it still gave me a really good on-set view of HDR. It’s also beneficial that I can calibrate all of my Sony monitors to match consistently.

Working in HDR
As HDR becomes a standard request—or a requirement—from studios, having my own HDR monitor has helped me maintain my standard of work and ensure that everything I produce is of high quality; and having a good monitor makes it all that much easier! Working in HDR in an on-set environment is a relatively easy workflow to adapt to, as the highlights are fairly precise.  Working in HDR provides more longevity and possibilities for the content.

I appreciate that the monitors have a lot of powerful built-in tools—on-set, my Sony monitors are on a cart, where they’ve proven to be durable and reliable. 

In terms of workflow, I take a log feed out from the camera and get a log feed on my monitor and then use a live grade to add a LUT to the feeds. Then I use my scopes in watch mode, primarily to review my false color for exposure. The false color setting is a valuable feature as is the ability to upload and compare user LUTs. 

At a Glance
Ultimately, I need my monitor balanced because we have an A and B camera next to each other. I also have a switcher where I can put multiple cameras onto one monitor so we can make judgments right away, compare images and see everything in the blink of an eye.  

I tend to work on projects that have a darker look so it’s helpful to have a monitor that can handle the blacks and shadows as well as it handles the lights and brights. I find that Sony’s monitors don’t give you a bleached out image—they give you deep blacks. Every camera and monitor can do bright, but it’s how they behave in the dark and how they can control shadows and balance highlights that’s most important.

In my position, having an accurate representation of what the camera is capturing gives the production crew peace of mind and that’s something I feel confident I’m able to do with Sony’s impressive monitors. l

For more information visit https://pro.sony/ue_US/.

LAS VEGAS—At the start of the 2022 NAB Show, Sinclair Broadcast Group executives provided a detailed update to their NextGen TV plans, providing new details about their work with USSI Global on a datacasting trial to deliver video and data to electronic vehicle (EV) charging stations, the rollout of HDR broadcasts in 28 markets that have 3.0 signals and a new hybrid broadcast app.

The executives laid out those plans on Saturday April 23 during an 2022 NAB Show press conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

“Our industry has reinvented itself to have a seat at the data distribution table,” said Chris Ripley, president and CEO of Sinclair, referring to the transition to the IP-based NextGen TV standard.

The trial with USSI Global will begin in West Palm Beach, Fla., with two charging stations equipped to receive and display “curated, targeted and unique programming” delivered over the air via NextGen TV, said Ripley.

The federal government has a goal of completing national deployment of EV charging stations by 2035 and has allocated billions of dollars to the effort.

USSI Global is hoping to leverage the local presence of Sinclair stations, local content reformatted for the kiosks and the relationships broadcasters have with local advertisers to one day generate new OTA-derived revenue, said Ted Korte, vice president of technology and engineering at USSI Global.

“Imagine you have a display on the street that tells you what’s going on,” said Korte, adding that the trial is intended to learn what is the best way to go forward with how the kiosks could be used nationally. “…[W]e are pretty excited about it.”

Central to a national deployment is a core network that broadcasters could use to distribute data from market-to-market, said Ripley. 

Local stations would use the network to enable a national footprint for data delivery while maintaining their free OTA telecasts.

Sinclair has been working on such a network internally for a decade, said Mark Aitken, vice president of Advanced Technology at Sinclair and president of ONE Media 3.0, adding that ongoing work by the ATSC to lay the groundwork for a core network is attracting interest from “a number of larger players.”

“I think you are going to see over the next two to three months coming out of the ATSC a blossoming of that activity to develop a core network for not just television broadcast but a data flow.”

Broadcast App and More
Sinclair also announced it is making its broadcast app development toolset available for free with an open license “to all that require it,” said Ripley. 

A broadcast app is considered critical to enabling interactivity on fixed and mobile devices, he said.

“We want a common approach to integrating our services with other broadcasters. Having a common broadcast app that all users can help refine is a most efficient way to proceed, and we are happy to provide the seeds to that process,” he said.

Holding up a mobile phone, Ripley also discussed efforts to bring 3.0 to wireless phones. An ongoing trial in Bangalore, India, is examining the direct-to-mobile capabilities of NextGen TV, he said.

Sinclair, which has a financial stake in Saankhya Labs, maker of 3.0 receiver chips, also highlighted the acquisition of a controlling interest in the lab by Tejas Networks, which is owned by Tata Motors. 

“It [Saankhya Labs] now has enormous resources of a premiere international company that recognizes the promise of NextGen and the benefits to the Indian market,” he said.

Aiken also touted HDR broadcasts as another selling point for NextGen TV broadcasting, noting that those HDR broadcasts were already available in 28 markets where NextGen TV signals have been launched. 

“The ability to offer differentiated content on the 3.0 that a platform is one of its primary advantages,” said Aiken. “There are many things we're doing here, but one example is the work that we're doing with respect to HDR with advanced HDR by Technicolor. The reason we're doing that is so that we can bring a substantially increased viewing experience to the television programming that we can offer. We've got activities going on, coupled with Bally Sports with respect to HDR. Today there are 28 markets offering that today, 3.0 markets that are offering HDR content. So the ability to provide differentiated content, better content, broadcast that providing more engagement, more stickiness, to the nature of the programming is going to drive” a lot of interest.

 LAS VEGAS—At the 2022 NAB Show next month, Cobalt Digital will introduce its +UDX-Dante-16x16, the industry’s first license-based 12G-SDI bridge to Dante audio, according to the company. Also on deck is Cobalt's new Indigo 2110-DC-01 SMPTE ST-2110 solution, as well as the company's line of compression products with a multilink demo of RIST, and new Technicolor features for reversible inverse tone mapping SDR to HDR incorporated into Cobalt products.

Dante is Audinate’s combination of software, hardware and network protocols that deliver uncompressed, multichannel, low-latency digital audio over a standard Ethernet network. Dante effortlessly replaces point-to-point analog and digital connections with software-based routing sending AV channels anywhere on the network with perfect digital fidelity.

Cobalt has made Dante’s IP-based audio networking solution available to users on a license-basis, which is field upgradable, by incorporating the functionality into the Company’s 9904-UDX processing card. +UDX-Dante-16x16 supports embedding and de-embedding all the way to 12G with full audio routing capabilities between SDI, MADI, and Dante, both input and output, adding up to 32 channels to existing 9904 cards for a high-density solution without the need for any new hardware. Users can ingest and process up to 16 audio channels from the network and output up to 16 channels back into the network using Dante and the Ethernet port. 

In addition to accessing Dante on Cobalt’s 9904 cards, users also have access to the card’s other functions such as UDX, color correction, 3D-LUT, frame-sync, audio mixing which are still available while embedding and de-embedding to/from SDI.

+UDX-Dante-16x16 users can also benefit from Cobalt’s BBG-1300 compact and portable frame by inserting a licensed 9904 card into a frame, converting it to a standalone chassis.

Cobalt's Indigo 2110-DC-01, is a new openGear-based SMPTE ST-2110 solution with dual 25G interfaces and 4K support. This highly integrated factory option offers best-of-class native ST 2110 audio/video processing to the Company’s 9904-UDX-4K and 9905-MPx audio/video processor cards. 

On the compression side, the 9992-ENC/DEC line has been enhanced with support for decoding Dolby AC-4 and Dolby E, as well as transport protocols such as SRT and soon, Zixi.

Cobalt will also conduct multiple demonstrations including ST 2110 processing, multilink RIST in seamless switching mode using SMPTE ST 2022-7, and a new feature from Technicolor that allows reversible inverse tone mapping SDR to HDR, followed by SL-HDR1 in seamless fashion.

Cobalt Digital will be in Booth N3713.

For more information on the NAB Show, April 23-27, visit nabshow.com/2022/.

PARAMUS, N.J.—Sony Electronics has announced that some of its latest HDR capture and monitoring technologies were used in the production of the second season of Netflix’ “Sweet Magnolias."

The Sony gear used on the production included the  BVM-HX310, PVM-X series of monitors and VENICE camera. 

Netflix’s “Sweet Magnolias” is a dramatic romance tale set in the South about three lifelong friends navigating their personal and professional priorities and relationships alongside one another. 

With a cast lead by JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Brooke Elliott and Heather Headley, the storylines of each character help set the tone and look of the show, which often features the traditional light and bright exteriors typical of romance narratives, while incorporating shadows, darkness and contrast, uncharacteristic of the genre, all of which are amplified through the use of HDR imagery, Sony reported. 

From a behind-the-scenes perspective, Sweet Magnolias features the technical talents of Tyler Blackwell, digital imaging technician (DIT), whose credits include “One Night in Miami…,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” and “Women of the Movement,” among others and Brian Johnson, director of photography, a Gemini Award nominee, a two-time Golden Sheaf award winner and recipient of two Leos, whose resume includes “The Killing,” and “You Me Her,” to name a few.  As a Cinematographer, Johnson uses his camera and lighting to execute the creative vision of the series, helping to determine the look of the show, emphasize the aesthetic and create emotional connections to the characters, while Blackwell assists Johnson in ensuring that his vision is maintained and the look is flawless, accurate and engineered to seamlessly make it through the post-production process.

Season 1 of Sweet Magnolias has been a popular title on the streaming platform, and Season 2 was released on February 4, 2022. Its stunning images are captured by Johnson using Sony’s VENICE full-frame digital cinema camera, while Blackwell monitors the series using a combination of Sony’s PVM-X2400 and BVM-HX310 4K HDR monitors.

As HDR comes to the forefront of productions, Blackwell explained its appeal by explaining:  “on Sweet Magnolias, we’re delivering a show in SDR and HDR. My hyper-critical eyes are on every frame and having HDR monitoring on-set has been very helpful in pushing a different standardized look. We use Dolby Vision, which I think is the pinnacle of HDR and provides the best viewing experience for our devoted fans.”

Another important aspect in delivering and providing that top-notch viewing experience to the audience is having the right tools.  

Blackwell prides himself on being proficient in the latest cutting-edge technologies, including 12G, 4K and HDR, which help contribute to his success and marketability as an in-demand DIT, and he understands that using superior solutions help him achieve a first-class result and reputation.  “After some trial and error using other equipment, as well as a good deal of research and development, I found my way to the Sony 4K HDR monitors,” he said.

“On Sweet Magnolias, we use three PVM-X2400s and one BVM-HX310, with the X2400s on my cart and the main cart, while the HX310 is on the HDR cart, which is in our command center – the DIT tent.”  Johnson added, “The DIT tent is pretty impressive.  It has an array of Sony monitors and it truly offers the best visual representation of what we’re going to ultimately end up with.”

The BVM-HX310 is also used for QCing dailies.  Blackwell explained, “We use the BVM-HX310 to make sure the team is comparing my stills to what they’re viewing in their environment and ensure everything is lined up and accurate to what Brian and I have created.”

For Blackwell, he zeroed in on the Sony PVM-X2400 after standardizing on the BVM-HX310 in 2020.  Blackwell chose Sony over the competition due to the company’s “critical” and “priceless” support and dedicated resources.  He also cited the monitors’ dynamic contrast drive feature, which helps ensure content is matching to the HX310, as well as the proper viewing environments. 

Since Blackwell already owns two BVM-HX310s, he recognizes the benefits of working with a primarily Sony workflow.  He said, “The fact that the HX310 and X2400 are an extremely color accurate match and work well together is very important.  We even had a scenario where Brian and the crew were shooting on the rooftop of a building and we brought the HX310 up so that Brian could view what was being shot in real time.  Because of the size and the weight of my cart, and the facility having no elevator, rolling my cart in wasn’t an option.  This is where the X2400 really shined.  I was three floors down, operating the cart and relaying between Brian and myself to ensure he could match what he was looking at with what he wanted to see.  I had one of the X2400 monitors in HDR mode and the other in SDR mode.  Brian was monitoring upstairs in SDR on the HX310 but I was still able to have the environment that we typically have, where the HX310 is usually in HDR and the X2400 are typically in SDR mode on the cart.”

Accommodating an HDR viewing environment is also important to Johnson, despite the understanding that he’ll primarily be viewing content on the SDR monitors and many of the show’s viewers will be consuming Sweet Magnolias in SDR.  He realizes there are certain situations where having an HDR vantage point helps enable his creativity and ensures the best viewing experience.  He explained, “In scenarios where there’s a wider field of view or where there are multiple windows looking out, we’ll put that up on the HDR monitor to see the perceptual effect of the bright windows.  Even if they’re not clipping, in HDR they can be so bright which allows us to gain perceptual information beyond any waveform information, so we can adapt our strategy to mitigate the brightness.  When looking at an SDR image, you don’t always have that same insight.”

But the Sony workflow and color matching weren’t the only reasons why Blackwell selected the PVM-X2400.  He stated, “Not only are the Sony monitors industry standard, they’re also requested by clients.  As someone who is a service provider, I need to listen to my clients and understand the market demands and that’s always been Sony.”

Johnson added, “I haven’t monitored in HDR on-set before, but I found it really comforting and handy to be able to, particularly when we’re getting close to a place that we feel good about the lighting in SDR. Once I check the HDR monitor, we can bring the highlights down more, if needed, or flag elements to address in post.  Using the monitors allows me to know I’m in a good place with the HDR deliverable, which is invaluable.”

Additional features that Blackwell called out included the monitors’ “fantastic” multiple channel setups.  “It’s pretty incredible,” he said. “I haven’t gotten a chance to use all 30, but to be able to quickly move through different configurations on the monitor is awesome.  Then I use the quadrant view to set an HDR and SDR next to each other.”

Another benefit of using Sony monitors on the set of Sweet Magnolias is the seamless collaboration and streamlined workflow they provide with the Sony VENICE camera employed by Johnson.  In addition to the impact of the lens, Johnson uses a LUT that he deems “idiosyncratic” and “absolutely key” to creating a distinctive look for the show, which is well represented by the monitors.

But that isn’t the only advantage to shooting with VENICE.  Johnson, who first used the camera to capture Sweet Magnolias in 5.7K, 16:9, remarked he was “really happy with VENICE’s representation of contrast and color.”  He initially gravitated toward the camera due to its ability to meet Netflix’s delivery requirements and its “super awesome” large format sensor.

Johnson noted, “I knew that on this project, we were going to want to limit the depth of field as much as possible on stage, so I was really keen to go with a large format sensor.  It worked out that the VENICE was our best candidate and aligned with our budget.  I had obviously read a lot about the VENICE and some of my colleagues had shot on it and had really great experiences.  I was curious and excited to work with VENICE, and it’s proven to be an awesome camera.  It won’t be the last time I use it, for sure.”

Additional benefits of VENICE that Johnson mentioned include its size and the quick and easy accessibility of settings.  He added, “This is a real cinema camera.  My team changes the ISO a lot and we love the internal ND function, which we use constantly, and that all of the functions are right there for the assistants.  Additionally, the camera’s small and light enough that we’ve built it on the Ronin very successfully, which has been great.”

From Blackwell’s DIT perspective, he also appreciates the VENICE.  He explained, “To be able to work with a piece of technology that can see more color than the human eye is pretty inspiring.  To know that we have as much as what we can perceive on set to work with is incredible.  In addition, from a technical standpoint, the ISOs we’re using enable us to make sure that we’re maintaining shadows or maintaining highlights depending upon the scene and the lighting environment that we’re in.”

Blackwell also pointed to the use of ART files, a technology that provides bit-level accuracy when utilizing a 3D LUT for on-set monitoring and improves image integrity for critical viewing applications.  He found that ART extensions provide the camera operators and assistants with insight, even when Blackwell’s not on-set due to COVID restrictions.  He explained, “Being able to leave Brian and leave the department with a camera that’s outputting the show LUT in an ART was critical for Brian to be able to continue doing his job without someone like me there keeping an eye on things.”

In addition, Blackwell values Sony’s SxS cards, especially their dual record functionality.  He described the benefits saying, “We used dual record on Sweet Magnolias, recording to AXS and SxS media to make sure that we have a backup because it doesn’t matter what camera system you’re working with, accidents happen.  Cards can get pulled out while you’re recording or there’s a power loss or a file corruption.  Being able to have two separate versions of your media recording at the same time is a great safety net.”

As Blackwell and Johnson look to the future, they recognize using state-of-the-art equipment, including Sony’s HDR monitors and VENICE camera, helps usher in a future where HDR is the expectation while solidifying the show’s legacy.  Johnson concluded, “I can only assume that one day, all monitors will be HDR, and keeping an eye toward that, we’re increasing the shelf life of Sweet Magnolias through our use of cutting-edge technology.”

PARIS—Technicolor this week touted Hisense’s announced support for ATSC 3.0 and Advanced HDR by Technicolor in upcoming ULED TVs, saying it demonstrates how the broadcast and consumer electronics industries have converged on advancing high-quality over-the-air (OTA) and over-the-top (OTT) television.

“This is an exciting step. Technologies, like those embedded in Advanced HDR by Technicolor, will greatly enhance how consumers experience OTA broadcasts, even as NextGen TV enables broadcasters to compete even more effectively in the OTT market,” said Tony Bozzini, head of business development with Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

“The availability of free, high-quality programming – especially sports and live event broadcasts – will provide consumers who purchase the equipped ULED TVs from Hisense with immediate return on their investments," he continued. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group, a supporter of Advanced HDR by Technicolor, is continuing its aggressive rollout of NextGen TV. The availability of the new Hisense U8H and UH9 TVs with support for Advanced HDR by Technicolor ensures viewers of Sinclair’s 3.0 stations will be able to enjoy sports, local news and other programming transmitted in HDR.

“ATSC 3.0 continues to change the way the world experiences entertainment and broadcast television. More importantly, the ATSC has focused on ensuring that no one gets left behind as innovations are introduced,” said Mark Aitken, senior vice president of technology for Sinclair and president of ONE Media 3.0.

“Broadcast is one of the most ubiquitously available platforms in the market, meeting the needs of all segments of the market," Aitken continued. "Hisense is demonstrating how HDR –especially Advanced HDR by Technicolor –can enhance engagement and the user experience. It offers a clear path for the entire ecosystem, including broadcasters like Sinclair, to establish early differentiation in this fiercely competitive market.”

The new Hisense U8H and U9H, announced at this year’s CES, introduce MiniLED technology to the company’s 2022 television lineup. The sets deliver HDR performance with a bright picture, vivid color and excellent contrast. 

“Hisense, ATSC 3.0 and Advanced HDR by Technicolor are working to deliver technologies that will allow all viewers – including sports fans and gamers – to enjoy the latest next-gen features with a tear-free, stutter-free and low latency HDR experience,” said David Gold, president of Hisense USA.

More information is available on the Technicolor website.

High dynamic range (HDR) is one of the key ATSC 3.0 capabilities that will drive growing uptake of NextGen TV, according to a pair of ATSC 3.0 leaders during a recent podcast for journalists.

“HDR is one of the features that most visibly improves the consumption of over-the-air (OTA) and over-the-top (OTT) content,” said Alan Stein, vice president of technology at InterDigital. “It greatly enhances the viewing experience, especially for things like live sports.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group, one of the largest station groups in the U.S. and owner of 21 regional sports networks as well as the Tennis Channel, this year offered HDR as part of its coverage of the U.S. Open tennis championship, said Mark Aitken, senior vice president of technology at Sinclair and president of ONE Media 3.0.

“The Tennis Channel, which is brought to consumers through the Bally Sports Regional Networks in 23 markets, will be using Advanced HDR by Technicolor for both our streaming and over-the-air broadcast services in 2022,” he said.

Use of HDR for U.S. Open coverage demonstrates that the competitive gap between over-the-air and streaming services is narrowing, said Stein.

With 3.0 being an IP-based standard, broadcasters now have a bridge leading to a greater presence in the fast evolving streaming market, he added.

“It is an important milestone. We're now seeing broadcast apps that embrace and extend the best ideas from OTT services while still having the scale and channel change speed that consumers like about traditional television. This allows broadcasters to play to their strengths, highlighting the absence of latency and unreliability that you sometimes get with some streaming applications and devices,” he said.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor enables a standard dynamic range (SDR) and an HDR signal to be delivered in one bitstream at the same time, which makes it possible for broadcasters to sidestep using two channels to deliver HDR and SDR services to viewers to support those with legacy TVs and new models with HDR capability.

The technology also offers advantages on the distribution side, enabling broadcasters to integrate HDR camera sources with SDR cameras into a single workflow that automatically adjusts the capabilities of the receiving devices, regardless of whether they are HDR- or SDR-capable. 

“If you've got a television set that was manufactured in the last three years, and it's 4K HDR-capable, you can connect your gateway or set-top box, and you've got glorious eye-popping HDR television. It also maximizes the experience of SDR-only devices. Either way, we want people to see the difference,” said Aitken.

To date, 3.0 deployment and consumer uptake have been strong. By year’s end, Aitken expects half the country will have access to at least one ATSC 3.0 signal—a feat accomplished during a time when the pandemic interfered with planned deployments. 

Further, the Consumer Technology Association has increased its estimate for sales of 3.0-capable sets in 2021 from 800,000 to more than 2 million, which taken together with continued deployment bode well for the future.

“ATSC 3.0 can deliver more pixels at higher quality for ultra high definition (UHD), 4K and HDR screens. This is a significant upgrade for customers with large screens,” said Stein.

More information about Advanced HDR by Technicolor is available online.