4K-8K UHDTV Satellite Broadcasting Leads Day One of the BEIT Conference at NAB

NHK, Japan’s Broadcasting Corporation, has been taking a leading role in popularizing UHDTV services since 2013. The company has developed their own playout systems for both 4K and 8K channels based on advanced digital satellite broadcasting technologies.

A discussion of this technology will lead off the conference on Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology on Saturday, April 6. 

In a discussion of both 4K and 8K broadcasting systems, Yo Narita, technical engineer in the Engineering Administration Department at NHK, will discuss the technical features of 4K and 8K. He will focus on video compression, media transport, IP multicast transmission, 16APSK modulation and hierarchy modulation to accommodate the attenuation of the signal due to rainfall.

Yo Narita, technical engineer in the Engineering Administration Department at NHK.

Yo Narita, technical engineer in the Engineering Administration Department at NHK.

These advanced technologies will enable users to expand their services, such as UHDTV, High Dynamic Range, 22.2 multichannel sound, subtitle and closed caption based on Timed Text Markup Language, HTML5 media content and an Electric Program Guide.

Narita, a graduate of Hokkaido University in Japan, is the system project manager for 4K/8K broadcasting for NHK. The paper will be presented on April 6 from 1:30 to 2:50 p.m at location NM260-A at NAB.

Following this session in N260-A on Saturday, April 6, will be UHD beyond the TV, bringing the experience from a Russian stadium to an auditorium in Rio de Janeiro with UHD TV and immersive audio. It runs from 3:20 to 4:40 p.m.

The FIFA World Cup is one of the most anticipated events in Brazil each year. Reproducing the atmosphere of the stadium is a big challenge for broadcasters.

In 2018, TV Globo had a proof of concept of how a new terrestrial standard could enrich its viewers experiences in the home with higher quality, increased spectrum usage and additional services.

The quality aspect was demonstrated in a 400-seat auditorium with UHD (4K and 8K) projection along with Dolby Atmos of the live matches. Other aspects were experimented with through an ATSC 3.0 transmission trial using LDM, multicamera synchronization and target advertisements.

Helio Kuwabara, support specialist at TV Globo.

Helio Kuwabara, support specialist at TV Globo.

Helio Kuwabara, support specialist at TV Globo, will lead the discussion with a focus on immersive media, including augmented and virtual reality, UHD and HDR.

Simultaneously, there will a presentation titled Towards Mass Deployment of CMAF (for Common Media Application Format) at the BEIT conference. The format brings the television industry closer to a single format for OTT distributors and playback support on all consumer electronics devices.

The ultimate goal is to reduce the complexity when delivering video online. This session will be held in N260-E on Saturday, April 6, from 3:20 to 4:40 p.m.

Yuriy Reznik, technology fellow at Brightcove.

Yuriy Reznik, technology fellow at Brightcove.

Since its inception, the Consumer Technology Association’s CMAF project and its members have made significant progress in bringing this technology closer to mass deployment. There are now finalized and published content and web media API specifications, as well as operational test suites and clients capable of playing CMAF content.

In this talk, Yuriy Reznik, technology fellow at Brightcove, will discuss the benefits that adoption of CMAF will bring, as well as challenges that the implementation community may still face in updating existing OTT media publishing workflows to support CMAF.

Reznik will share specific examples and experiences that an engineering team at Brightcove had in building support for CMAF.

Want to know more about this year's BEIT Conference? Click the link here to see the official schedule along with a snippet of information about each presentation.

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