Ultra HD: Sooner than expected? - White Paper - The Future Trust

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ULTRA HD Sooner than expected?

WHITEPAPER

© 2014 Technicolor. All rights reserved. No part of this white paper may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

MARKET OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................................................. 4

CONSUMER PREFERENCES DRIVE UHD 4K DEMAND ............................................................................................................ 4 ULTRA HD IN THE HOME? ............................................................................................................................................. 6 4K CONTENT ................................................................................................................................................................ 7

NOT JUST ABOUT MORE PIXELS, ABOUT BETTER PIXELS AS WELL ......................................................................... 8

RESOLUTION ................................................................................................................................................................ 8 HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE .................................................................................................................................................. 9 THE WIDE COLOR GAMUT (WCG) ................................................................................................................................. 10 THE FRAME RATE ....................................................................................................................................................... 11

ULTRA HD EXPERTIZE ................................................................................................................ 11

BROADCASTING ULTRA HD ................................................................................................................................. 12

HEVC ...................................................................................................................................................................... 12 HEVC DRIVERS........................................................................................................................................................... 12 BANDWIDTH REDUCTION IN HD ..................................................................................................................................... 13 SATELLITE OPERATORS ................................................................................................................................................. 14 TELCO AND CABLE OPERATORS ...................................................................................................................................... 15 ENCODING PERFORMANCE ............................................................................................................................................ 16 ENCODERS ................................................................................................................................................................. 17 DECODER AVAILABILITY ................................................................................................................................................ 17 HDMI TODAY AND TOMORROW .................................................................................................................................... 17 HEVC STANDARDIZATION STATUS .................................................................................................................................. 18 HOW WE CAN HELP YOU MIGRATE TO ULTRA HD? ........................................................................................................... 18 ABOUT TECHNICOLOR ......................................................................................................................................... 20

. © 2014 Technicolor. All rights reserved. No part of this white paper may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher

INTRODUCTION

From the first digital TV services from DirecTV in 1994 and the Mpeg2-‐based UK service launch in 1998, to the 2006 introduction of mass market HDTV in Europe based on Mpeg4 AVC, there has been a continuous effort to optimize encoder technologies. The goal has always been the same: enhanced picture quality using less bandwidth. Recent heightened interest in 4K/UHD services goes along with this search for bandwidth optimization; as an encoder technology, HEVC appears as a natural progression.

This white paper aims to provide a clear overview of where the industry stands on 4K/UHD services at the beginning of 2014, following numerous product introductions at CES this year, all along the E2E chain.

In the wake of predictions of slow 4K/UHD deployment, this paper examines the rapid progress achieved over the past year and reviews ways to improve image quality through up-‐scaled HD, which enables providers to deliver a 4K/UHD experience without native 4K/UHD content. Thanks to embedded HEVC decoding capabilities and future proof technology for native 4K/UHD content, the next generation of set-‐top boxes can make 4K/UHD a reality earlier than expected for NSPs who want to accelerate their migration and stay ahead of the competition.


HDTV WORLDWIDE ADOPTION

75% of US HHs have now HDTV at home

HDTV is assumed to reach >350mio HHs by 2015

MARKET OVERVIEW

Ultra HD, also known as 4K, is a TV format offering four times more pixels than full HD (4K/UHD for digital cinema has 4096 pixels rather than 3840 as shown on this chart). In addition to higher resolution than HD, future iterations of 4K/UHD will offer higher frame rates and greater dynamic range. The goal is to deliver a more immersive, true-‐to-‐life experience to the home.

Consumer preferences drive UHD 4K demand

Because consumers are buying larger and larger screens for their homes, they are increasingly sensitive to the value of higher picture quality. The charts below demonstrate the parallels between global HDTV adoption rate, average screen size and willingness to pay for higher quality.

The number of households with HDTV is increasing exponentially. This trend will continue as HD services take hold on a large scale in emerging markets.

Sources: HDTV sales TV Technology (Oct12), Consumer Habits Ericsson base US-‐UK-‐Germany-‐Spain-‐China-‐Taiwan (Aug12), Juniper Research (July12), Fubon Research


TV SIZE IS INCREASING

Global average size of TV panels is expected to exceed 37 for 2013 (FY13F) -‐ boosted by 50 + TV demand

END USER IS READY TO PAY FOR ENHANCED QUALITY

#2 -‐ Excellent Quality (HD)

#4 -‐ Extreme Quality (UHD)

Linked to the spread of HD is an increase in average TV screen size, which already exceeds 37 in. In fact, the sweet spot for HD TV sales is now closer to the 40-‐50 in. range in mature markets. Market data also shows that more than 30% of end users are prepared to pay for excellent quality and nearly 30% for extreme quality. The proportion of end users prepared to pay for extreme quality, which corresponds to a level beyond HD, is sufficient to justify the launch of such services.

HD cannot replicate the full cinema experience in the home. Users seeking a truly immersive home experience expect more than HD. What is more, 4K TVs are now available in stores, at increasingly affordable prices. At the same time, movie theatres are converting to full digital projection, in some cases with 4K projectors, to reproduce the original quality of the digital video.

Sources: HDTV sales TV Technology (Oct12), Consumer Habits Ericsson base US-‐UK-‐Germany-‐Spain-‐China-‐Taiwan (Aug12), Juniper Research (July12), Fubon Research


ULTRA HD in the home?

Some concern over the feasibility of 4K/UHD, in particular the ability of living rooms to accommodate large screens, has been voiced in the media. The argument is that viewers will require TV sets with much larger screens than HD sets to appreciate 4K/UHD picture quality. As shown in the chart below, with a 60 in. screen, viewers begin to benefit from higher resolution at a distance of about 7 feet (just over 2 meters).

However, the eventual success of 4K/UHD depends on three critical factors:

Because the pitch is much finer, viewers will naturally sit closer to the screen than with an HD set to get the most benefit from 4K/UHD resolution.

A truly immersive experience requires filling the entire field of view with screen images. This means a screen which is much larger than an HD set in proportion to the size of the room.

Sustainable UHD success depends not only on higher resolution (number of pixels) but overall quality in terms of color reproduction and dynamic range. We will examine how to achieve this.

We can conclude, at least provisionally, that existing living rooms will accommodate 4K/UHD TV sets, based on the fact that viewers can sit much closer than they did before, and that consumers who care greatly about picture quality will find ways to incorporate TVs in their homes.

As we have seen at CES 2014, pure OTT players will launch 4K/UHD content in partnership with major TV manufacturers. Netflix launched its 4K stream early April. Although it will reach only the limited number of users who have purchased 4K/UHD TV sets the company will certainly use this 4K/UHD service as a strong communication opportunity, to build its attract new subscribers, at the expense of NSPs.

Source: Panasonic


However, NSPs can develop new strategies based on higher quality, more natural-‐looking images, visible from any distance. Picture quality can be greatly improved and, combined with up-‐scaling techniques NSPs can deliver a 4K/UHD experience without native 4K/UHD content. Network Services Operators must consider this, especially as 4K/UHD TV set prices decline this year; the FIFA World Cup will probably prompt special offers. Homes will start being equipped. Next generation set-‐top boxes using up-‐scaling, image improvement and future-‐proof 4K/UHD technologies, are planned for Q4 2014. That means that now is the time to launch and promote a 4K/UHD strategy.

4K content

Significant production of native content is underway. As of the end of 2012 there were 150 films and TV shows with a 4K/UHD master copy ready for immediate distribution. An additional 793 films and TV shows had been captured in 4K/UHD but required rendering for UHD (Source HIS 2013)

The ecosystem is already well advanced. What is more, existing 35mm film can be re-‐mastered to 4K/UHD with good quality results.

this re-‐use of the back catalogue. In September 2013 Sony launched its Video Unlimited 4K/UHD offering with more than 140 titles. At the same time, more and more 4K/UHD production equipment is being launched, much of it with an eye toward the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Numerous new TV productions are being announced: the BBC is making its new Survival wildlife documentary in 4K, following several trials at Wimbledon 2013; Sky did the same with English Premier

its 4K streaming service at CES 2014 with a February launch date, being compatible for buyers of new 4K/UHD sets from Sony, LG, Samsung, Vizio and others upon purchase as these sets include the HEVC decoding chip necessary to support such bandwidth hungry files.

The advent of 4K/UHD is a given. The real question is how to deliver sufficient 4K/UHD programming while waiting for additional native 4K/UHD content to be widely available. Up-‐scaling, combined with picture enhancement, can make UHD 4K/UHD economically viable right now.


NOT JUST ABOUT MORE PIXELS, ABOUT BETTER PIXELS AS WELL

Technicolor delivers innovative picture technologies at every stage of the video workflow in order to create a better 4K/UHD experience for the consumer. Indeed, our Research and Innovation centers are working on such experience-‐enhancement technologies as High Definition Range (HDR), Wide Color Gamut (WCG), compression, metadata and more.

Video enhancement involves four areas: resolution, luminosity/range, color gamut and frame rate.

Resolution Resolution amounts to the number of pixels displayed. More pixels improve image quality, especially on large displays; this is the main characteristic of 4K/UHD. But consumer acceptance of 4K/UHD TV also depends on the availability of content that demonstrates the superiority of the 4K/UHD viewing experience. To help expand content availability, Technicolor has developed solutions that transform legacy content into high-‐quality 4K/UHD programming 4K/UHD up-‐scaling certification program, which consists of a set of proven tests on motion video, is one example.

Because image processing algorithms rely on temporal information, they work effectively on video sequences but not on still images, which require their own specific tests.

Another test category aims at ensuring the algorithm effectively handles jaggies (stairstep effect), which may appear when up-‐scaling on text/UI edges requires edge sharpening and enhancement.

In addition, reference test patterns which isolate various complex sequences with typical techniques enable identification of weak points for such image processing algorithms.

Source: Technicolor 2013


Impairments must be assessed by objective measurements, for example:

Contouring: in scenes with gently changing areas of contrast, such as cloudy sky, checking for items that look like bloc

Gamut: verifying color rendering capabilities Grey scale: ensuring an accurate display of mid-‐tones Jaggies: Checking lines or borders at low horizontal or vertical angles as these can appear

disjointed, reducing image smoothness and clarity Noise Reduction: testing how well the video signal processor removes noise from the picture,

while also distinguishing noise from real picture data se

near sharp image transitions White luminance: ensuring sufficient brightness of full screen

Although higher resolution produces a crisper image, thanks to more pixels, image color and contrast remain the same as for HD. quality. These techniques, applicable to HD images today and 4K/UHD images in the future, will enable NSPs and broadcasters to deliver UHD/4K programming without native 4K content.

High Dynamic Range In addition to frame rate, such aspects as dynamic range and color depth are very important to our perception. High Dynamic Range (HDR) combines several exposure levels to render visible details in the darkest and lightest portions of an image that could not otherwise be seen. The difference between a normal HD image and an HDR image is striking. Starting from HDR content production, Technicolor is working on several techniques to deliver HDR video, from inverse tone mapping to HDR streaming and standardization for STBs. Source: Technicolor 2013


High Dynamic Range offers better detail rendering, greater contrast and better overall realism through reproduction of real-‐world color, intensities and lighting. HDR can be seen as a complement to 4K/UHD for the future 4K/Ultra HD format. As leader of the NEVEx project, a pioneer in HDR video technology, Technicolor is developing distinctive HDR expertise. Technicolor was first worldwide to demonstrate HDR on a set-‐top box.

HDR will not be applied to the first generation of 4K/UHD. TV sets and standards are not ready. But HDR offers great promise as a way to deliver an even-‐more compelling user experience in the future.

The wide Color Gamut (WCG) WCG is a technique to enable more accurate display in the home of the exact colors intended by a content creator. W WCG displays, viewers will enjoy colors that are more vivid and vibrant while remaining true to the original image.

LED and Quantum Dots displays thanks to this unique Technicolor breakthrough which enables WCG screens to match the viewer experience offered by display technologies for TVs, PCs, smartphones and tablets.

By adapting the content frame-‐by-‐frame, Technicolor Color Gamut Expansion algorithms applies a dynamic, real-‐gamut. Skin colors remain natural; cinematographic color grading decisions are preserved.

Delivering on the WCG potential will require a new generation of TV sets, capable of reproducing a wider range of colors. WCG will be associated with greater bit depth for encoding content, starting with 10 bits as applied to the current HEVC standard, but going further in future.

Technicolor actively contributes to industry standardization efforts in such areas as HEVC extensions for High Dynamic Range and Wide Color Gamut in MPEG, ITU-‐T, IEC and applications standardization committees such as DVB.




The Frame Rate Fast movements during live sports broadcasts can be blurred if the frame rate is too low. Major broadcasters and operators agree that sports content will be a main driver for 4K/UHD programming and that at least 60 frames per second will be needed for 4K/UHD and possibly more in the future.

The requirements are different for movies, where defects in scenes can often be corrected during editing. In addition, viewers are accustomed to seeing some flickering due to the 24 fps rate of film, which has been retainuse higher frame rates (such as 48 fps).

Ultimately, viewers can expect an experience on screen increasingly close to reality.

ULTRA HD EXPERTIZE

From supporting OEMs and service providers to our own set-‐top boxes, Technicolor has been at the forefront of 4K/UHD technology and solutions. For example, our certification program is gaining increasing traction with consumer product manufacturers. We are leveraging our expertise in

-‐ s the viewing experience at home and that 4K/UHD image processing technology inserts no image-‐damaging artifacts when upscaling less-‐than-‐4K/UHD content to near 4K/UHD quality.

At CES 2014, Technicolor announced that U-‐Vision 4K/UHD up-‐converting HDMI cable and adapter were the first accessory products to receive Technicolor 4K Image Certification. Chinese TV manufacturer TCL also announced adoption of the Technicolor 4K Image Certified Port for its future 4K/UHD TV products.

Regarding content, US streaming service M-‐GO, a joint venture between Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation, announced a comprehensive 4K/UHD service to launch on Samsung UHD TVs in the spring of 2014. M-‐GO will kick off with a wide selection of full-‐length 4K/UHD theatrical hits and popular TV

ade available to consumers as soon as they are released digitally. For content not authored or post-‐produced in 4K/UHD, Technicolor and M-‐ TM solution leverages the source files from its licensed content partners and reprocesses them to enhance visual crispness, color acuity and image depth for 4K/UHD television owners. M-‐ -‐scaling chips embedded in TVs.

http://www.seiki.com/


BROADCASTING ULTRA HD

HEVC

HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) is the new generation Codec that, because it can handle more data over a given bandwidth, will facilitate the introduction of 4K/UHD services. Considered as the successor to Mpeg4 AVC (H.264), HEVC targets up to 50% bandwidth gain. That means it enables longer reach for HDTV services and bandwidth reduction over broadcast networks at constant quality.

Compared to Mpeg4 AVC, HEVC uses larger coding tree blocks of 64x64 pixels which are more efficient when encoding larger frame sizes and adding more intra-‐prediction directions over 35 which adds more potential reference pixel blocks.

This means more computing power and more memory which requires a new generation of hardware decoder chips for products in the home. These chips will be available with hardware decoding solutions for product introductions from late 2014 onwards, although some software decode solutions may be available earlier for limited applications.

HEVC drivers

As noted above, the move to 4K/UHD will require a more efficient CODEC, to avoid devouring so much network space that broadcasting becomes no longer economically viable. Recent comments from the CEO of SES Astra, Romain Bausch, reported in Advanced Television.com reflect this: customers taking up Ultra-‐HD and this being done at much the same time as our customers phase out their Standard Digital services. We do not see this as a zero-‐sum gain, even though our customers will use some of their own freed-‐up capacity for Ultra-‐HD. Our model is a net-‐plus model. Ultra-‐HD requires more bandwidth which is a problem for


AVERAGE BROADBAND SPEED IS NOT SUFFICIENT FOR HD VIDEO EVERYWHERE

Average debit rate to be eligible to HD video services = 6-‐8 Mbits/s

We expect the move to broadcast 4K/UHD in HEVC to happen first on satellite and OTT. But regardless of 4K/UHD, HEVC will extend the reach and quality of IPTV and OTT services and reduce bandwidth requirements for video services. Today, video is using too much bandwidth; it is forecast that 90% of Internet traffic will be used for video by 2015 and that mobile video will increase 16-‐fold between 2012 & 2017, accounting for 2/3 of total mobile data traffic.

Bandwidth reduction in HD

HEVC will become the next standard in video encoding, in the same way that Mpeg4 AVC has taken over from Mpeg2 to enable bandwidth reduction and implementation of services that were not possible using older technologies. Here is how we believe HEVC will impact various types of operators:

PURE OTT: Higher quality content with greater reliability to more subscribers.

IPTV TELCOS: Enabling need to invest in satellite transponders to cover zones that cannot be reached by ADSL broadband.

SATELLITE OPERATORS: Higher quality services for tablets and catch-‐up via OTT.


Satellite operators

Studies by Spanish satellite operator Hispasat have shown that combining technologies enables broadcast of a sufficient number of UHD channels using existing satellites without increasing the number of transponders.

Hispasat examined combining new extensions of DVB-‐S2 specifications with HEVC encoding for their Amazonas 3 satellite (8 transponders). The study concluded that future DTH platforms would enable transmission of 19 UHDTV channels and 37 HDTV channels1 current configuration using DVB-‐S2+MPEG-‐4 would enable 34 HDTV channels and 8 UHDTV channels, which would be sufficient for a few UHD launches.

1 Study based on the Amazonas 3 satellite, using 33 Ku-band and 19 C-band to provide services covering Brazil, Latin America and the United States. Nine Ka-band spot beams are also included, providing the first Ka-band coverage over Latin America.

Source: DVB-‐EBU UHDTV Fact Findings -‐ May 24 , 2013 - Hispasat


Source: Ultra High Definition : The next generation of high resolution content-‐ IHS August 2013

This has also been confirmed in an HIS2 analysis comparing current technologies with a DVB-‐S2 and HEVC combination for HD and UHD channel transmission. One transponder using current technology could deliver one or possibly two UHD channels; it could deliver up to three UHD channels using DVB-‐S2x and HEVC.

Only some channels will switch to UHD, and only a few will be used to launch premium video programming, so the results show that operators can consider launching UHD services using existing satellites without increasing the number of transponders. Several successful tests were launched in 2013 and recommendations are underway to define the best adapted broadcast profile for UHD TV. Hispasat, for example, recommends a maximum of 20-‐to-‐25 Mbps per channel, a minimum of 50 fps and 8-‐to-‐10 bit depth, pending future analysis.

During IFA and IBC 2013, Technicolor was the first company to demonstrate a set-‐top box (DST 839) decoding a 4K HEVC signal in real time from an SES Astra satellite. Updated with 60 fps and an HDMI 2.0 port, a new DST 839 version will be available by Q4 2014.

Telco and Cable operators

In 2013, several demos proved that existing networks can efficiently stream 4K content to the home. In early 2013 at Mobile World Congress, Telefonica demonstrated UHD video over FTTH in real time streaming, with content served from its own CDN. At the end of 2013 during the Copenhagen Future of TV Conference, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings declared that the bandwidth needs for such videos compressed with the HEVC codec would be around 15 Mbps (Netflix announced at CES 2014 that it was about to launch 4K content).

2 Ultra High Definition : The next generation of high resolution content-‐ IHS August 2013


With the growing availability of high speed Internet around the world, and several NSPs now providing fiber, cable and xDSL plans up to 100 Mbps to the home, there is no doubt that these IP networks can deliver UHD video today using existing infrastructure. Of course, service will be even better with HEVC.

Once it has reached the home, UHD content can be distributed to different devices via Ethernet or even with existing Wi-‐Fi technologies. Wireless 802.11n features 80 Mbps throughput while 802.11ac has 130 Mbps throughput on the 5 GHz frequency sufficient to deliver UHD to, for instance, a tablet. Technicolor has expertise in high bandwidth video streaming over 5GHz Wi-‐Fi and can provide dedicated solutions for this, both for streaming to client boxes attached to TV sets and to tablets and other mobile devices.

It is important to note however that, at 15.6 Mbps, an average movie can consume more than 8 GB of data. In some countries, this will probably imply a change in business models; users will need higher or unlimited caps on their broadband usage. There will also be big differences in transmission costs between live broadcast and VOD; delivering live UHD via IP to millions of homes can be more expensive than satellite. We will update this white paper with a dedicated business case section in the coming month.

Encoding performance

Technicolor research and tests show that UHD/quad HD file throughput is closer to three rather than four times HD (1080p) file throughput. This is because, although there are more pixels, the additional pixels do not deliver much more information; HD already captures reality very precisely. The additional pixels provide mainly more precision but there are redundancies compared to the pixels in an HD image. Consequently, coding is more efficient as we focus on compressing the additional information.

Both subjective and objective tests show that the higher the resolution, the more differences can be perceived between AVC and HEVC encoding. Also, encoding in 10 bits enables a 5-‐to-‐7 percent increase in objective performance compared to 8-‐bit.

Subjectively, HEVC compression is 50-‐to-‐60 percent more efficient than AVC and a compressed UHD file is finally 1.5 times larger. The expected throughput for UHD-‐1 phase 1 is around 12-‐to-‐16 Mbps for a 4Kp50-‐60/10-‐bit video. We expect this performance to improve in the coming months as the first generation of hardware encoders arrives on the market.


Encoders

Some major players launched first generation software encoders in 2013 to position themselves as pioneers. Two strategies have emerged: some providers have chosen to release software encoders while others have adopted a longer term strategy by concentrating on developing hardware solutions.

Software encoders work fine but they need massive computing power, which makes them much more expensive than current AVC hardware encoders, especially if real time encoding is needed. This can be a wise choice for those seeking to quickly propose replay TV or VOD services with an acceptable delay between the first broadcast and the replay. It will help some companies position themselves as market leaders. We expect to see the first 4Kp60 software encoders by mid of 2014.

Hardware encoders will enable live encoding of broadcast programming. Much less expensive than software encoders, we expect them to be available by early 2015. This is the right time frame as the entire ecosystem will be well in place by then, with more content available, and cheaper TV sets probably equipped with appropriate HDMI inputs.

Decoder availability

HEVC hardware decoding solutions for pay-‐TV reception are currently at sample stage and expected to be deployable as products starting in late 2014 depending on operator software requirements and feature sets. Some mobile devices have already introduced HEVC decoding capability but without the content protection constraints usually applied for pay-‐TV.

HDMI today and tomorrow

Launching HEVC HD services or, potentially, 4K/UHD VoD services for movies, would have no impact on HDMI requirements. Up to 4k/p30 can fit into the bandwidth available within legacy versions of HDMI 1.4. However, true 4K/UHD services require frame rates of 50 or 60Hz, which necessitates HDMI 2.0. Both the TV set and the STB will need to be compatible. It should be noted that not all 4K/UHD TV sets already sold are compatible with HDMI 2.0; some major manufacturers are already selling HDMI 2.0 compatible sets or have announced upgrades for existing sets.

Beyond the basic requirement of 4k/p60 readiness for the HDMI interface, new content protection requirements are expected on the HDMI link. The current HDCP 1.4 version is unlikely to be considered


sufficiently secure for protecting premium movie content. A new generation of protection, HDCP 2.2, can be associated with HDMI 2.0. It 4K/UHD decoder products. Associated TV sets will also need to be compliant with this requirement. As a founder of HDMI and contributor to many standards bodies, Technicolor is working with major TV manufacturers to help ensure interoperability.

HEVC standardization status

HEVC itself has been standardized since January 2013. Work is underway to further improve and extend the standard with SHVC (HEVC extensions for Scalable Coding) by June 2014. Technicolor, co-‐Chair of the Ad Hoc Group on Color Gamut Scalability, has proposed several ways to improve SHVC coding. In addition, HEVC Rext (Range extensions) remain under active development and will enable high bit depth (12 to 16 bits) for chroma formats 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 (YUV and RGB). Technicolor is also working on improvements to range extension coding.

Within DVB, the commercial requirements for UHD-‐1 Phase 1 were approved in December 2013 and associated technical specifications are now being finalized.

How we can help you migrate to ULTRA HD?

From production to distribution, Technicolor brings Enhanced Image Quality to the Hollywood experience everywhere, on all screens, for every level of resolution.

Technicolor Pure Image is a portfolio of solutions combining the artistry rooted in our heritage in color and picture with the technology solutions needed to deliver the highest quality image in Standard, HD or 4K/UHD resolution.

Technicolor is uniquely positioned to apply the technologies that will fasten the delivery of high-‐quality UHD experiences to the consumer. From HD to 4K up-‐scaling, from Rec709 to Wide Color Gamut expansion, from LDR to HDR Inverse Tone Mapping and Frame Rate Conversion, no one can match

innovative technologies today.

Technicolor solutions are optimized for variable bit-‐depth (12/10/8) and variable bit-‐rate (3-‐25Mbps) with scaling of perceptual quality. Our process helps reduce content creation costs as well as the expense of delivering the high quality digital images intended by artists and studios to consumers using any platform.


With Technicolor, non-‐native 4K/UHD content and distribution can deliver a compelling 4K/UHD experience.

Today, we are actively engaged in discussions with major operators around the world to speed the introduction of Ultra HD. Several CE manufacturers have adopted our 4K/UHD certification, a standard for up-‐scaling content for consumer devices. We are leveraging our expertise to provide the best possible image quality in our decoder solutions. Following successful demonstrations at IBC 2013, CES 2014 and elsewhere, we are on track to be first to market with HEVC 4K/UHD resolution set-‐top boxes.

Close partnerships with leading chipset vendors enable Technicolor to benefit from the latest technologies and shortest development timetables. Working with partners, we have gained invaluable experience producing end-‐to-‐end live HEVC transmissions of the French Open tennis tournament and 4K/UHD image capture at the Rennes Opera House.

Technicolor DST 839 HEVC/4K Satellite Set Top Box


ABOUT TECHNICOLOR

With almost a century of experience in entertainment innovation, Technicolor is dedicated to inventing and co-‐creating breakthrough technology solutions that span the entire digital life ecosystem. Our Entertainment Services, Connected Home and Technology divisions deliver the technologies that enable amazing companies to bring amazing digital experiences to life. From video and audio, to imaging and information, regardless of place, device or context, we join hand-‐in-‐hand with our partners to deliver immersive augmented experiences that ignite our imagination.

With long-‐standing leading positions in set-‐top boxes, home gateways, applications and software, Technicolor Connected Home applies technology to enable intelligent interactions between people and their environment, creating a more vivid, beautiful and smarter digital world for us all.

For more information: www.technicolor.com

Published by Connected Home Marketing.

Technical questions may be addressed to: [email protected]

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Ultra HD: Sooner than expected? - White Paper - The Future Trust

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Transcript of Ultra HD: Sooner than expected? - White Paper - The Future Trust